Scientist Discovers Venus Phenomenon
We have known for many years that Venus is made from the same substance that Earth is made out of. The only difference is that Venus is dry and is hot enough to melt lead with its thick atmosphere. Astronomers have tried spending time trying to figure out why Venus is like this. It seems that one scientist has discovered the answers that they have been searching for.
Two huge, protoplanetary bodies collided head-on and merged to form our planetary neighbor, but obliterated nearly all water in the process. “The probability that two protoplanets collided to form Venus is not at all implausible,” said John Huw Davies, a geodynamicist at Cardiff University in the U.K. who developed the idea.
A majority of scientists think Earth’s moon formed when a protoplanet about the size of Mars smacked into the planet at an angle. Davies thinks Venus was born of a far worse cosmic train wreck. “What if the moon-Earth collision isn’t that big in planetary terms?” Davies told SPACE.com. “A head-on blow between two similarly sized bodies would have been about twice as energetic.”
Astronomers have had little time to react to Davies’ proposition, which is detailed in recent issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, but already some are wary. Despite the cautionary responses from other scientists, Davies thinks his idea is worth exploring.
Earth harbors an enormous volume of water, even in its searing interior. The life-giving molecule emerges as a vapor with molten lava, carrying with it a radioactive gas known as argon-40. The isotope is generated from radioactive potassium deposits inside of our planet, as well as in Venus.
Davies thinks the relatively low amount of such argon detected in Venus’ atmosphere — about 400 times scarcer than on Earth — is a sign that water never really seeped out of the parched, volcano-covered planet. “The only way water could have out-gassed is very early in Venus’ history,” Davies said. “The argon-40 gives us a timescale of water leaving the ground because it’s produced over time, and only a little of it has been released.”
A mega-collision between two bodies of roughly equal size could have provided the energy necessary to rip water, which is made of two hydrogen and one oxygen, into pieces. The hydrogen would escape into space while oxygen would bond with iron and sink to the planet’s core. Although the Earth suffered a catastrophic impact that formed the moon, Davies explained that the process did not dry out the two bodies. “It wasn’t as energetic, limiting the reaction of iron and water,” he said.