Think All Helium From The Big Bang Has Escaped Earth? Think Again, New Study Says

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It is possible that the Earth originated in a solar nebula, as shown by the abundance of helium found in the core. A minor amount of Helium-3 has been detected on the surface of the Earth. However, researchers were unsure how much of the Planet’s heart was seeping, as opposed to its intermediate regions, known as the mantle.

According to a recent research, the Earth’s core is one of the primary sources of Earth’s helium-3. Almost all of the helium-3 in the cosmos can be dated directly to the Big Bang since helium is among the cosmos’ first constituents.

Throughout its life, a planet’s makeup is shaped by the materials it encounters in its immediate environs. For the center of Earth to contain large quantities of Helium-3, it had to have formed inside a vibrant Sun-like nebula. Adding to the hypothesis that our globe was born in the sun’s nebula, the fresh study sheds light on the origins of our world.

Helium was simulated throughout two crucial points in Earth’s history: throughout initial development when the globe was gaining helium, and after the genesis of the Moon, when helium was released. An asteroid about one-third the scale of Earth struck the globe some 4 billion years ago, re-melting the Continental mantle and enabling most of the helium to leak out, according to data. Even now, the gas is still leaking.

Helium-3 leaks out from the globe at a rate of around 2,000 grams per year, plenty to inflate a desk-sized balloon. Next, researchers might seek helium-3 as well as other nebula-generated elements that leak at comparable rates and places such as helium-3 to identify the nucleus as the origin of the gas.

The study was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems.

William Reid
A science writer through and through, William Reid’s first starting working on offline local newspapers. An obsessive fascination with all things science/health blossomed from a hobby into a career. Before hopping over to Optic Flux, William worked as a freelancer for many online tech publications including ScienceWorld, JoyStiq and Digg. William serves as our lead science and health reporter.