Moon Mystery Solved? Hovering Soil Linked to Glass Bubbles
Nanosize particles may account for soil's odd behaviors, scientist says.
Small bubbles of glass form on the moon when micrometeorites hit the lunar surface. (Related: "Moon Oddly Magnetic—Giant Asteroid Crash to Blame?")
Since the moon has no atmosphere to slow the projectiles, each one, no matter how tiny, "wreaks havoc," said Paul Warren, a research geochemist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who wasn't involved in the new study.
Particles about a hundred microns wide—the size of a fine grain of beach sand—hit with enough force to melt bits of moon rock, forming tiny glass bubbles.
In a new study, Marek Zbik of the Queensland University of Technology analyzed glass bubbles collected by Luna 16, the first Soviet probe to return a sample from the moon.
Using a special type
