[meteorite-list] Birth of Asteroids and Planets. (Was: The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years? Really?)

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:29:50 -0500
Message-ID: <DAEB4F205F084DE8855D2F9F832475FA_at_ATARIENGINE2>

In the case of meteorites (and asteroids and comets
and planets) when molecules begin adhering to each
other in a process that leads to the formation of
particles, dust, grit, grains, lumps, clots, clumps,
rocks, planetesimals, and so on, as far as it goes.

>From the moment molecules agglomerate, they
become part of that body, no longer available to
outside forces, except as part of a whole, and
insulated from the direct effects of those outside
forces (within limits and again, except as a whole).

That's when the "age clock" of an object in a solar
system starts ticking, when things come together.

Individual atoms have ages, too. Hydrogen is as
old as the universe itself, dating from the era when
radiation condenses into matter, matter into particles,
and particles into atoms. That's how old a hydrogen
atom is. Helium's just a smidge younger than that
(and deuterium) and lithium.

Heavier elements are cooked in the stars that form,
when they die. A hydrogen supergiant born early
in the life of the universe burns through its life and
blows up into heavier elements right away. But that
process goes on even today. Somewhere new heavy
atoms are being made right now.

But the super-vast majority of elements in your
body (and mine and all living things) are all old
stardust from stars that died before (or as) the solar
system formed, so we're all as old as the planet
by the age of our atoms, even though these particular
atoms didn't decide to hang out in this particular
body until just a very few years ago when one cell
became two and two, four...

Just for a while. They'll be moving on, after a while.


Sterling K. Webb
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Meteorites USA" <eric at meteoritesusa.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Birth of Asteroids and Planets. (Was: The
age of Mifflin. ?470 million years? Really?)


> Sterling, List,
>
> When does "age" actually begin?
>
> Regards,
> Eric
>
>
> On 4/14/2011 10:24 PM, Sterling K. Webb wrote:
>> It's the usual reporter scramble that results
>> when a scientist tries to explain something
>> more complicated than Brittany Spears or
>> Charlie Sheen to a reporter.
>>
>> Mifflin's an L chondrite. John Valley and
>> Noriko Kita have done a lot of work on the fossil
>> L chondrites of the Ordovician period, which
>> fell at rates 100 times greater than today's fall
>> rates, apparently after the breakup of the L
>> chondrite parent body sometime shortly before
>> 470 million years ago.
>>
>> They must have tried to explain all this to the
>> reporter instead being smart and saying "Yeah,
>> it's a rock from outer space and it's really old,
>> old as the solar system itself" and just letting
>> it go at that.
>>
>> Sorta like what you would say to a five-year-old.
>> Always a good idea to talk to reporters like they
>> were five-year-olds. Don't try to make them
>> handle too much.
>>
>> So, all of that got mushed together into this:
>> "Scientists believe [it] was originally part of an
>> asteroid fragment that separated 470 million
>> years ago between Mars and Jupiter." (From
>> the other local TV station.)
>>
>> Remember... Five-year-olds.
>>
>>
>> Sterling K. Webb
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joe Kerchner"
>> <skyrockmeteorites at yahoo.com>
>> To: "meteorite list" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:16 PM
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] The age of Mifflin. ?470 million years?
>> Really?
>>
>>
>>> Hello all,
>>> It the 470 million year age for the Mifflin meteorite correct? if
>>> so, isn't that very young for a meteorite? I have been under the
>>> impression that the average age of a meteorite was 4.57 Billion
>>> years old I know that's an average, but isn't 470 million way too
>>> young? Theres no way that it is so young, is there?
>>> I read that in a couple articles online today. below is a link to
>>> one of them.
>>> http://www.wisn.com/r/27539805/detail.html?source=htv
>>>
>>>
>>> Best Wishes,
>>> Joe Kerchner
>>> http://illinoismeteorites.com
>>>
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Received on Fri 15 Apr 2011 02:29:50 AM PDT