New Evidence That the Moon Was Created In a Massive Collision 155
derekmead writes "New evidence that the giant impact hypothesis is correct: A paper published today in Nature shares findings of a chemical analysis of Moon rocks that shows fractional differences between the makeup of the Earth and Moon that most likely were caused by the collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planet around 4.5 billion years ago. Although the two are quite similar, it's been previously shown that Moon rocks lack volatile elements, which suggests they may have evaporated during the incredibly intense heat and pressure created during an impact event. But if the hypothesis that light elements actually evaporated from Moon rocks during their formation is correct, you'd expect to find evidence of elements being layered by mass — heavier elements would condense first, and so on. That process is known as isotopic fractionation — a concept central to carbon dating — and the Washington University team's results suggest they found exactly that (abstract). They compared the blend of zinc isotopes in Moon rocks and Earth samples, and found that the Moon rocks held slightly higher proportions of heavier zinc isotopes. If the Moon was indeed once part of Earth — which has been shown by extensive modeling (PDF) — the difference in the balance of zinc profiles would most likely be explained by lighter zinc isotopes evaporating away following a collision."
Velikovsky ... (Score:3, Funny)
With some careful interpretation and text analysis of Velikovsky's
works, we may yet find he predicted this.
Re:Couldn't possbly be true... (Score:3, Funny)
Just out of curiosity (Score:3, Funny)
What did the people who only worked 60 hour weeks in grad school believe?
Re:How the hell does the moon work, anyway? (Score:5, Funny)
Easy. First of all, the Moon is made of green cheese. What most people don't know, though, is that this is a highly stinky form of cheese. So the Earth keeps its distance from the smelly Moon. The Moon landings were all faked except for that one documentary about a man and his dog who went to the moon looking for a grand day out.
The Moon -- A Ridiculous Liberal Myth (Score:5, Funny)
It amazes me that so many allegedly "educated" people have fallen so quickly and so hard for a fraudulent fabrication of such laughable proportions. The very idea that a gigantic ball of rock happens to orbit our planet, showing itself in neat, four-week cycles -- with the same side facing us all the time -- is ludicrous. Furthermore, it is an insult to common sense and a damnable affront to intellectual honesty and integrity. That people actually believe it is evidence that the liberals have wrested the last vestiges of control of our public school system from decent, God-fearing Americans (as if any further evidence was needed! Daddy's Roommate? God Almighty!)
Documentaries such as Enemy of the State have accurately portrayed the elaborate, byzantine network of surveillance satellites that the liberals have sent into space to spy on law-abiding Americans. Equipped with technology developed by Handgun Control, Inc., these satellites have the ability to detect firearms from hundreds of kilometers up. That's right, neighbors .. the next time you're out in the backyard exercising your Second Amendment rights, the liberals will see it! These satellites are sensitive enough to tell the difference between a Colt .45 and a .38 Special! And when they detect you with a firearm, their computers cross-reference the address to figure out your name, and then an enormous database housed at Berkeley is updated with information about you.
Of course, this all works fine during the day, but what about at night? Even the liberals can't control the rotation of the Earth to prevent nightfall from setting in (only Joshua was able to ask for that particular favor!) That's where the "moon" comes in. Powered by nuclear reactors, the "moon" is nothing more than an enormous balloon, emitting trillions of candlepower of gun-revealing light. Piloted by key members of the liberal community, the "moon" is strategically moved across the country, pointing out those who dare to make use of their God-given rights at night!
Yes, I know this probably sounds paranoid and preposterous, but consider this. Despite what the revisionist historians tell you, there is no mention of the "moon" anywhere in literature or historical documents -- anywhere -- before 1950. That is when it was initially launched. When President Josef Kennedy, at the State of the Union address, proclaimed "We choose to go to the moon", he may as well have said "We choose to go to the weather balloon." The subsequent faking of a "moon" landing on national TV was the first step in a long history of the erosion of our constitutional rights by leftists in this country. No longer can we hide from our government when the sun goes down.
Re:How the hell does the moon work, anyway? (Score:5, Funny)
Romney: well what you have to know is that the Moon is NOT a job creator. The Moon is part of that 47% of the solar system that sponges off of the hard work the other half is doing. The Moon is a worthless satellite.
Some Character Who Is Not Romney: Yes, but isn't the Moon responsible for tides? Without tides, there would be no surfers. Without surfers, there wouldn't be the movie Point Break and that would be tragic. The Moon is also responsible for werewolves. You need a full Moon for werewolves to change And I quote
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright
and if he doesn't wear his Mormon magic underwear
Were it not for the Moon, then the act of baring our posteriors would simply be called "baring our posteriors" or something equally uncool.
I could site numerous other examples, Mr. Future-President-To-Be-Because-The-Current-President-Was-Coasting-Like-It-Was-The-Month-Of-June-In-His-Senior-Year-So-He-Phoned-In-The-Previous-Debate-And-Dropped-Around-4-Points-In-The-Polls-According-To-Real-Clear-Politics. But I think I have made my point. Check and Mate, sir.
Re:How the hell does the moon work, anyway? (Score:2, Funny)