Using the infrared satellite AKARI, a research team has detected the existence of water in the form of hydrated minerals in a number of asteroids for the first time. This discovery will contribute to our understanding of the distribution of water in our solar system, the evolution of asteroids, and the origin of water on Earth.
It is has been nearly a half century since I studied chemistry so I need some help with terminology. When the article speaks of “hydrates”, does it mean that water has chemically reacted and bonded to the cation? (e.g., Potassium Nitrate.) Or does it mean water that is “trapped” in the crystalline structure as a water of hydration? (e.g., Na2SO4 * 6H2O)
I got more confused about this as I read the article. (I thought I should have been able to figure this out from the article but my knowledge is too rusty.) It speaks of the water being trapped in the crystalline structure but one could also say that chemically-bonded hydrates are also “trapped”, so to speak. I suppose in the very cold temperatures (and very low pressure) at typical asteroid distances from the sun, waters of hydration would be extremely stable for many millions of years—so if I had to guess, I would assume that the article is talking about waters of hydration.
This isn’t really a surprise, or anything.
Upon the results of the colliding dual planet cataclysm that both infused the early earth with a denser metallic core, and fractured it deeply to begin plate tectonic action, and also resulted in a newly formed moon, the earth’s surface had been so thoroughly blasted clean that liquid water no longer existed at the surface. The later Hadean bombardment by meteors and comets is credited with having delivered significant amounts of water to the earth’s surface over time by impact release.
By then, the earth’s gravity was sufficiently dense to permanently capture evaporated water from free release into space, but not so dense as to prevent it from circulating freely.
At precisely the same time, the earth’s enhanced magnetic core began to function as a dynamo, generating an electromagnetic “force-field” to prevent hyperdestructive solar radiation from stripping away the developing atmosphere, and our nascent, increasingly habitable, privileged planet was well underway as a suitable environment for advanced life.
And so sets the stage for the kind of wording we find in Genesis 1:2.
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