Apollo rocks reveal the Moon had brief bursts of super-strong magnetism

-

 Apollo rocks reveal the Moon had brief bursts of super-strong magnetism


Scientists at the University of Oxford have finally settled a decades-long mystery about the Moon’s magnetic field — and it turns out both sides were right. By reanalyzing Apollo mission rocks, they discovered that the Moon did occasionally generate an incredibly powerful magnetic field, even stronger than Earth’s — but only for fleeting bursts lasting thousands of years or less. Most of the time, the Moon’s magnetic field was weak.
The Moon’s magnetic field was mostly weak — but occasionally flared to strengths even greater than Earth’s. Apollo samples exaggerated those powerful moments because astronauts unknowingly collected rocks from rare, titanium-rich hotspots. Credit: Shutterstock


Scientists at the University of Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences have settled a decades long argument over the strength of the Moon's magnetic field. For years, researchers have questioned whether the Moon generated a powerful magnetic field or only a weak one during its early history (3.5 -- 4 billion years ago). A new study published February 26 in Nature Geoscience concludes that both views were partly right.


By reexamining rock samples returned by the Apollo missions, the team found evidence that the Moon did experience periods of extremely strong magnetism, at times even surpassing Earth's. However, these intense phases were rare and brief. For most of its history, the Moon's magnetic field was relatively weak.

Global Energy Awards

Nomination link: https://globalenergyawards.org/award-nomination/...

Visit Our Website: globalenergyawards.org
Contact Us: support@globalenergyawards.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Explore the Fourth Dimension"

-
Image
Fourth Dimension   The fourth dimension is a fascinating concept that has captured the imaginations of scientists, mathematicians, and artists for centuries. Unlike our three-dimensional world, which is limited by the linear flow of time, the fourth dimension is a realm of space and time that exists beyond our everyday experience. One way to visualize the fourth dimension is through the use of a hypercube, also known as a tesseract. A hypercube is a cube within a cube, with additional lines and edges connecting the vertices of the two cubes. It's impossible to construct in our three-dimensional world, but it provides a glimpse into what the fourth dimension might look like. Another way to understand the fourth dimension is through the concept of a wormhole, a theoretical passage through space-time that connects two distant points in the universe. A wormhole is like a shortcut through the fabric of space-time, allowing us to travel vast distances in an instant. While there is no de...
Read more

Quantum Tunneling Breakthrough: Technion Scientists Move Atoms With Precision

-
Image
In a groundbreaking experiment at the Technion Faculty of Physics , researchers demonstrated the transfer of atoms via quantum tunneling using optical tweezers. This novel method, which strategically avoids trapping atoms in the middle tweezer, represents a notable stride toward innovative quantum technologies. Quantum Tunneling in Optical Tweezers A new experiment at the Technion Faculty of Physics demonstrates how atoms can be transferred between locations using quantum tunneling with optical tweezers. Led by Prof. Yoav Sagi and doctoral student Yanay Florshaim from the Solid State Institute, this research was published recently in Science Advances. The experiment relies on optical tweezers , a powerful tool that uses focused laser beams to trap and manipulate tiny particles like atoms, molecules, and even living cells. Here’s how it works: when light interacts with matter, it creates a force proportional to the light’s intensity. This force, though too weak to impact larger objects,...
Read more

Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time

-
Image
MIT physicists have demonstrated a new form of magnetism that could one day be harnessed to build faster, denser, and less power-hungry " spintronic " memory chips. The new magnetic state is a mash-up of two main forms of magnetism: the ferromagnetism of everyday fridge magnets and compass needles, and antiferromagnetism, in which materials have magnetic properties at the microscale yet are not macroscopically magnetized. Now, the MIT team has demonstrated a new form of magnetism , termed "p-wave magnetism." Physicists have long observed that electrons of atoms in regular ferromagnets share the same orientation of "spin," like so many tiny compasses pointing in the same direction. This spin alignment generates a magnetic field, which gives a ferromagnet its inherent magnetism. Electrons belonging to magnetic atoms in an antiferromagnet also have spin, although these spins alternate, with electrons orbiting neighboring atoms aligning their spins antiparalle...
Read more