My webpage was created in order to fulfill the requirements for Earth Science Lab class at Emporia State University. This project was written in accordance with Chapter 12, "The Moon," from the "Introduction to Earth Science Lab" book.
How does ice survive on the Moon?
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Origins of the Moon
People have pondered the origin of the Moon since the beginning of human life. "Modern speculation began when George Darwin (1879) hypothesized that the Moon formed from the Earth by fission of a single larger body" (Heiken, Vaniman, and French 13). This hypothesis and others have helped scientistspeculate the beginnings of the moon and it's origins.
There were a lot of people who believed the NASA Apollo program would provide the information to determine the Moon's origin. The chemical compounds that make up the Moon, are not uniform, which has made a specific origin difficult. There is much information on the Moon's gravitational effects, but this does not determine the Moon's origin.
To fully understand the origin of the Moon, scientists need more data. Scientists need to learn more about the Moon's heat flow, the thickness of the mantle, how fast the moon is moving, and more about the Moon's core. "From future geochemical studies, we need to determine the lunar inventory of heat-producing radioactive elements, the abundances of refractory and volatile elements, and the abundance of siderophile elements (those that tend tobe miscible with iron)" (Heiken, Vaniman, and French 13). Scientists must compare the Earth's magnesium to iron ratio to that of the moon. The measurements can be obtained although it's been a challenge for scientists to accomplish this task. Collecting rock samples from the surface has allowed for a history of the lunar chemical composition to be determined.
Outside of Earth, the Moon is the only body in space that has been sampled in a step by step process. Meteorites provide many samples of particles from other planetary and stellar bodies and is the only other chemical structures of which samples have been collected. These samples, primarily collected by U.S. and U.S.S.R. missions, are collected from several different locations on the Moon's surface.
"On 5 March 1998 it was announced that data was returned by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft indicated that water ice on the Moon" (Ice on the Moon).Ice was found at the north and south lunar poles. The ice originally was thought to be mixed with surface rocks, soil and dust. "The ice was thought to be spread over 10,000 to 50,000square km (3,600 to 18,000 square miles) of area near the north pole and 5,000 to 20,000 square km (1,800 to 7,200 square miles) around the south pole, but the latest results show the water may be more concentrated in localized areas (roughly 1850 square km, or 650 square miles, at each pole) rather than being spread out these large regions" (Ice on the Moon).
How does ice survive on the Moon?
There is no atmosphere on the Moon and water ice will chemically change directly into water vapor and rise into space. The Moon's low gravity cannot hold gas for any extended length of time. During one lunar day (equivalent to 29 Earth days), the entire Moon is exposed to sunlight, and the sunlight areas reach about 250 degrees above zero F. The only way for ice to survive is in permanently shadowed regions hidden from the Sun within deep craters. Heinken, Grant, Vaniman, David, French, M. Bevan (1991) Lunar Sourcebook.Cambridge University Press. Arnett, Bill (1999). The Moon. http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/luna.html. "Ice on the Moon," http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_moon.html Johnston, P., Aber, S., & Ye, H. (1998). Introductionto Earth Science Lab. Edina, MN: Burgess International Group INC. Any comments or questions please forward to Marc Heinitz, heinitzm@esuvm.emporia.edu Created on May 5, 1999 Return to the Student's Index
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