月岩磁性之谜与地球磁场启示.pdfVIP

Okay,thecollectionofmoonrocksthattheastronautsbroughtbacktoEarthintheearly1970shas

provideduswithalotofinformationaboutthenatureofthemoon,butthere’sonethingaboutthe

rocksthat’sespeciallypuzzledscientistseversincethesemissions.Whydidsomanyofthemhavea

icsignature--evidenceofhavingbeenizedinthepast?Afterall,weknowthemoon,

unlikeEarth,hasnoicfieldtoday.

Well,let’sbackupabithereanddiscoverEarth’sicfield.It’sexinedbythedynamotheory.

ThedynamotheoryexinshowEarthgeneratesalonglivedglobalicfield.Now,weknow

Earthhasamoltenmetalliccore.Thatisacoremadeuplargelyofhotliquidiron.Well,asthewarmer

molecuofthisironliquidrise,thecoreofcourse,sinksinacirculatorymotion.Thiscirculating

metallicliquidinsideEarthalongwiththerotationoftheEarthcreateselectriccurrentsandthese

electriccurrents,inturn,createsEarth’sicfield.Amoltencorethatgeneratesaicfieldis

adynamo,andtheactionofthisdynamoizeslifeonEarth.But,themoondoesn’thavea

icfieldnow,andscientistshavelongbelievedthatithasneverhadone.

Why?Well,foronething,themooniscoldandit’salsothoughtthatthemoonistoosmalltohavea

moltencore.Soitcameasabigsurprisewhenastronautsreturnedwithrocksampthathadbeen

ized.Well,eversincethoseearlymissions,scientistshavebeendebatingtheanswertothis

question.Somescientistshavearguedthattheshockoftheimpactofmeteoritesandasteroidswrecked

theicsignatureonthemoonrocks.See,3.9billionyearsago,relativelysoonafterthemoon

formed,itunderwentaperiodofheavymeteoriteandasteroidbombardment.Thesescientiststhought

itwastheimpactsduringthisperiodofbombardmentthatshockedoralteredmany