For such a tiny planet, Mercury is a pretty big puzzle for researchers. NASA’s MESSENGER probe already has revealed that the planet is surprisingly rich in elements that easily evaporate from the surface, such as sulphur, chlorine, sodium and potassium. This is incredibly odd as these kind of substances most likely would disappear during a hot or violent birth – exactly the type of birth a planet so close to the
sun, such as Mercury, would have had.
Scientists are also struggling to understand why Mercury is so dark and what its earliest planetary crust, created as the newly-formed planet cooled down, was made of.
...........However, it turns out that a lack of iron would make Mercury’s original magma ocean less dense than the moon’s, so that any anorthite crystals that grew would sink rather than float upward to produce bright spots. In fact, the only mineral likely to crystallize that would have been able to float is graphite, the soft, dark form of carbon used in pencil “lead”.
A graphite crust on Mercury used to seem unlikely, especially if you assume that its carbon content is similar to that of Earth or Mars. But now research suggests that this crust was indeed made largely out of graphite. That is strange because the other rocky planets have a lot less carbon on their surfaces, and carbonaceous asteroids from which a carbon-rich planet could form are much further from the sun than Mercury’s present orbit.
The study analyzed data collected by MESSENGER when the spacecraft was within 100 kilometers of the surface. It showed that while the dark patches did contain graphite, it was far from being pure – more like ordinary rock debris with a few percent of graphite mixed into it." Discover
There is nothing ODD about any of this. God created each planet UNIQUE. And the reason the planet is "rich" in "sulphur, chlorine, sodium and potassium" is because it hasn't been around millions or 4 billion years for it to have all evaporated away.
Scientists are also struggling to understand why Mercury is so dark and what its earliest planetary crust, created as the newly-formed planet cooled down, was made of.
...........However, it turns out that a lack of iron would make Mercury’s original magma ocean less dense than the moon’s, so that any anorthite crystals that grew would sink rather than float upward to produce bright spots. In fact, the only mineral likely to crystallize that would have been able to float is graphite, the soft, dark form of carbon used in pencil “lead”.
A graphite crust on Mercury used to seem unlikely, especially if you assume that its carbon content is similar to that of Earth or Mars. But now research suggests that this crust was indeed made largely out of graphite. That is strange because the other rocky planets have a lot less carbon on their surfaces, and carbonaceous asteroids from which a carbon-rich planet could form are much further from the sun than Mercury’s present orbit.
The study analyzed data collected by MESSENGER when the spacecraft was within 100 kilometers of the surface. It showed that while the dark patches did contain graphite, it was far from being pure – more like ordinary rock debris with a few percent of graphite mixed into it." Discover
There is nothing ODD about any of this. God created each planet UNIQUE. And the reason the planet is "rich" in "sulphur, chlorine, sodium and potassium" is because it hasn't been around millions or 4 billion years for it to have all evaporated away.
Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God,
Hebrews 11:3
