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Author: Subject: Isotope distribution of Ar: no K-40 in the Sun ?
metalresearcher
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[*] posted on 26-10-2011 at 09:05
Isotope distribution of Ar: no K-40 in the Sun ?


On Earth, most argom is argon 40 as a decay product from K-40. But on the Sun the most abundant isotope of Ar is 36. Is there virtually no K 40 on the Sun ? Sun and Earth are from the same origin of 4.5 billiion years old which meand that both should have the same amount of K-40 ?
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annaandherdad
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[*] posted on 28-10-2011 at 12:57


It's a good question, I can only guess. The sun certainly has K40, in the fraction that was present in the original nebula out of which the solar system condensed, minus the amount that has decayed. My guess is that when the earth formed, a small rocky planet near the sun, it was naturally mostly rock and little gas. So presumably it had little of the primordial argon present in the nebula, the argon that shows up as Ar36 in the sun today. But it did have K40, as a part of the rocks, which has since decayed to produce Ar40. That's my guess.

There are other differences in isotope abundances between the earth and the solar nebula. Jupiter and the outer layers of the sun should reflect fairly well the abundances in the solar nebula, but the small planets don't. This is certainly true for the deuterium abundance on earth.




Any other SF Bay chemists?
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