Moon samples

Ciccotti, G. Kapral, R. Vanden-Eijnden, E., Blue moon sampling, vectorial reaction coordinates, and unbiased constrained dynamics, Chem. Phys. Chem. 2005, 6, 1809-1814... 

The values for the Al/Si ratio of the regolith in mare areas, as determined from moon samples as well as via the x-ray fluorescence technique, also differ from the values found in the rock samples of mare basalts (Tables 2 and 3), the latter being somewhat lower. These differences can be explained by the admixture of anorthositic material from the lunar highlands, as found at the... 

A good example of the application of this method is its use for the micro-determination of beryllium, iron, cobalt, nickel and chromium in moon dust and moon rock. Trifluoroacefylacetone and heptafluorodimethyloctanediol were used to obtain the chelates of metals in the moon samples [48]. The examples cited are indicative of the wide possibilities of this method in inorganic microanalysis. 

A.H. Muir Jr, R.M. Housley, R.W. Grant, M. Abdel-Gawad, M. Blander, Mossbauer spectroscopy of Moon samples. Science 167, 688-690 (1970)... 

Table 13. Isotopic composition of lead in some meteorites and Apollo 11 moon samples...

Zirconium is found in abundance in S-type stars, and has been identified in the sun and meteorites. Analysis of lunar rock samples obtained during the various Apollo missions to the moon show a surprisingly high zirconium oxide content, compared with terrestrial rocks. 

As space exploration begins, we can look forward to a vast multiplication of our present knowledge of the planets. Conceivably we shall be analyzing samples of the moon within this decade. The distances to the other planets are such that voyages of the order of a few months suffice to reach them. Again information will accumulate rapidly. 

Geological surveys require the services of analytical chemists to determine the composition of the numerous rock and soil samples collected in the field. A particular instance of such an exercise is the qualitative and quantitative examination of the samples of moon rock brought back to Earth in 1969 by the first American astronauts to land on the moon. 

It must be stressed, however, that the whole object may be the analytical sample, e.g. a specimen of moon-rock. Ideally this sample would be analysed by non-destructive methods. Occasionally the bulk material may be homogeneous (some water samples) and then only one increment may be needed to determine the properties of the bulk. This increment should be of suitable size to provide samples for replicate analyses. 

A collision with a Mars-sized object may have resulted in the formation of the Earth s moon. Our moon is by no means the largest satellite in the solar system, but it is unusual in that it and the moon of Pluto are the largest moons relative the mass of the planets they orbit. Geochemical studies of returned lunar samples have shown that close similarities exist between the bulk composition of the moon and the Earth s mantle. In particular, the abimdances of sidero-... 

Samples that are 4.6 X 10 years old have been found in meteorites. This is the best present estimate for the age of the solar system. Example illustrates this type of calculation for rock from the Earth s moon. 

When a sample of moon rock was analyzed by mass spectroscopy, the ratio of K to Ar was found to be 0.1295. Based on this ratio, how old is the moon ... 

The instrument MIMOS II will be part of the upcoming ESA-NASA space missions ExoMars in 2018, and the Russian Space Agency sample return mission Phobos Grunt scheduled for launch in 2011 to visit the Mars moon Phobos. 

The first moon explorers brought back rock samples of a nature never before seen on earth, but they did not find any new elements. The moon rocks merely added to the proof that the moon, the earth, and the whole universe are made from the same elemental building blocks. 

The moon rocks brought back to earth are only a tiny sample of the moon s surface, but they are enough to show that some elements common on earth may be rare on the moon, and some that are rare here on earth may be common on the moon. So far, as on earth, oxygen and silicon seem to be the most common lunar elements. Early experiments have found more uranium and less potassium, more titanium and less sodium. Oxygen is strikingly absent from some minerals, but natural glass is far more common than it is on earth. The rare, noble gases are fairly abundant, trapped in little bubbles in the rocks. 

Except for the moon and the planet Mars, no extraterrestrial body has had pieces of its mass directly examined by scientists in an earthly laboratory. This means that there has been no laboratory sample preparation scheme performed on samples of solid matter from any of the other planets, their moons, comets, or asteroids. And yet we read repeatedly about how scientists have been able to surmise the... 

Stable isotope analysis of Earth, Moon, and meteorite samples provides important information concerning the origin of the solar system. 8lsO values of terrestrial and lunar materials support the old idea that earth and moon are closely related. On the other hand three isotope plots for oxygen fractionation in certain meteoric inclusions are anomalous. They show unexpected isotope fractionations which are approximately mass independent. This observation, difficult to understand and initially thought to have important cosmological implications, has been resolved in a series of careful experimental and theoretical studies of isotope fractionation in unimolecular kinetic processes. This important geochemical problem is treated in some detail in Chapter 14. 

Stable isotope analysis of earth, moon and meteorite samples has provided important information concerning the origin of the solar system. Lunar samples returned to earth during the Apollo missions show 8170 and 8lsO enrichment patterns which are virtually identical to those of earth-bound rocks and minerals. On 3-isotope plots like those in Figs. 9.5 and 14.3, a uniform isotope reservoir is represented by a single... 

Oxygen Isotope Fractionation in Earth, Moon, and Meteorite Samples... 

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