Word: argonant
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ized bacteria or other signs of ancient life. Fireman is analyzing the radioisotopes of helium, argon and hydrogen to determine the effects of the solar wind-a stream of high energy particles from the sun-on the lunar rock...
...surprisingly, one of the few jubilant scientists in Houston last week was Geochemist Oliver Schaeffer, who led the team that calculated the age of the lunar material. He used potassium-argon dating, a method based on the rate at which radioactive potassium decays into argon (it takes 1.3 billion years for half the potassium to decay); as time passes, the ratio between the potassium and argon in a specimen changes at a known rate, thus revealing the approximate age of the sample. If there is any error at all, Schaeffer explains, he has underestimated the age of the rocks, because...
...addition to the argon that resulted from potassium decay, Schaeffer found an abundance of solar argon-and of helium and neon-that has collected during eons of bombardment by the sun. These particles were lodged only in the surface of the rocks, where they had remained undisturbed for hundreds of millions of years-more evidence that the moon's exterior has not undergone any recent upheavals...
...expelled from the sun as solar wind, heated a pinch of moon dust to 3,000° F. Analyzing the escaping gases, he found that the lunar surface had absorbed considerable helium and hydrogen from the sun. But he also noted surprisingly large amounts of such rare gases as argon, neon, krypton and xenon, which suggested that the moon may prove a promising solar observatory. At California's Lick Observatory, astronomers were finally able to get a reading on the distance between earth and moon. Using the reflector left behind by the astronauts, the Lick astronomers calculated that their...
...surface for only two hours or so. Soon after emerging from Eagle, they will place on the lunar surface a sheet of aluminum foil suspended from a stand. It will be exposed to the constant stream of particles expelled by the sun and should trap rare gases such as argon, krypton, xenon, neon and helium. Returned to earth in a vacuum box, the captive gases will be analyzed to give scientists new insights into the sun and the "wind" that it blows through the solar system...