O is a very responsive component and find molecular O ( O2)in space is quite rare . So it was surprising to see it being unloosen by Rosetta ’s comet in 2015 . Several ideas were put onwards to excuse it and chemic engineers at Caltech think they have now figured it out .
In a paper bring out inNature Communications , the team suggests the O is produced from collisions . Water is free by the light from the Sun and then ionized by ultraviolet rays . It is then pushed back onto the open of the comet where it interact with the oxygen - racy minerals , liberating molecular O .
The team , led by Professor Konstantinos P. Giapis , does n’t normally work on astronomic problems . Their specialty is clash high - speed ions with superconductors to create better electronic computer chips . But high - hurrying ions are very common in space so they were connive to see if they could use their expertise elsewhere .
" I pop to take an sake in infinite and was look for place where ion would be accelerated against surfaces , " Giapis suppose in astatement . " After looking at mensuration made on Rosetta ’s comet , in particular regarding the Department of Energy of the water particle hitting the comet , it all click . What I ’ve been studying for long time is happening aright here on this comet . "
The squad essay this idea by producing a control surface standardized in composition to Comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko , which Rosetta studied for several age untillast summertime . The surface contained oxygen bound in atom like George Sand and rust , which the researcher germinate ionised water at . The surface then release molecular atomic number 8 .
" This original alchemy chemical mechanism is based on the rarely - considered grade of Eley - Rideal reactions , which occur when fast - move molecules , water supply in this case , collide with airfoil and extract atom residing there , forming Modern speck . All necessary condition for such reaction exist on comet 67P , " Giapis continued .
Co - author Yunxi Yao added : " We have shown by experimentation that it is potential to organize molecular oxygen dynamically on the surface of materials similar to those determine on the comet . "
An alternate idea suggested that the molecular oxygen was present ( and trapped ) in the ice of the comet . As the comet melts , the atomic number 8 is released . A bountiful interrogation bell ringer in this hypothesis though is why O did n’t oppose with any other element for trillion of twelvemonth ?
In distance , oxygen ismostly seenas a single atom and in water corpuscle and carbon dioxide . So far , molecular atomic number 8 has been detected only double in deep space observations ofstar - form nebula , so a mechanics that can form oxygen seems more likely than trap bubbles beneath the chalk .
ocular representation of ionized water molecules release molecular atomic number 8 from a control surface . Caltech
