Study suggests Earth’s leaky core may provide clues to how the planet formed. read here

The volatile exchange during Earth’s formation and evolution reflects the metal core as a leaky reservoir that supplies helium-3 to the rest of Earth, the study said. “Produced primarily by the decay of uranium and thorium, terrestrial helium-3 is of primitive origin, synthesized after the Big Bang (Baniya et al., 2002) and primarily incorporated into the Earth during its formation. was done,” the paper said.

Earth’s leaky core

The article states that scientists have discovered helium-3, a rare isotope of helium gas, leaking from Earth’s core.

Helium-3-rare isotope of helium gas

Helium-3 is a light, stable isotope of helium that has two protons and one neutron (the most common isotope, helium-4, which has two protons and two neutrons in contrast). Apart from protium (ordinary hydrogen), helium-3 is the only stable isotope of any element that has more protons than neutrons. Helium-3 was discovered in 1939.

This parent gas was formed shortly after the Big Bang and was obtained from the solar nebula as Earth formed.

What does a helium-3 leak indicate?

Experts have now estimated how much of this gas, which was previously seen only in the mantle, is leaking.

The discovery of helium-3 indicates that Earth has deep reserves of this element, but its location and abundance are uncertain. It is noteworthy that helium-3 can also be produced by some natural processes, such as the radioactive decay of tritium, however, this parent element is mainly formed in nebulae.

The researchers modeled helium during early formation when the planet was accumulating helium and after the formation of the moon, after which helium was lost. Scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago, an object one-third the size of Earth collided with a planet that re-melted Earth’s crust, leaving much of the helium left behind, a phenomenon that continues to this day.

The team estimated that every year about 2 kg of the rare gas helium-3 is released from Earth’s interior.

“The core provides a potential reservoir for 3He because it is less susceptible to major impacts than other parts of the Earth system, does not directly participate in plate cycling, and has remained liquid for much of Earth’s history. ,” said the paper.

Scientists are now trying to delve deep beneath the surface to find out the true nature of the leak and understand the planet’s formation.

What is Solar Nebula?

The Sun and the planets were formed 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of gas and dust called the Solar Nebula. A shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion likely triggered the collapse of the solar nebula.

According to NASA, the nebula is made up of dust and gases – mostly hydrogen and helium. The dust and gases in a nebula are very spread out, but gravity can slowly begin to pull the dust and gas clumps closer together. As these clusters get bigger and bigger, their gravity gets stronger.

Eventually the clump of dust and gas becomes so large that it collapses under its own gravity. The collapse causes the material in the center of the cloud to heat up—and this hot core is the beginning of a star.