Water on Moon and Earth came from meteorites: new study

reply to post by Berzerked


Primarily because ice is a solid and water is a liquid. Comets lose mass (gas out) as they approach a heat source (sun) and over time will become nothing but dirt/carbon and rock husk.

Originally posted by Berzerked
reply to post by eriktheawful

 

Thanks for the simpler explanation but let me ask this... How can those ice crystals form that NASA always claims are mistaken for UFO's if water boils away in space?

As was said: it's because it's ice, not liquid water.

Ice will eventually sublimate (go from solid to gas, bypassing the liquid phase), but is a much slower process than going from liquid to gas (boiling).

You can experiment with this at home. Go out and by some Dry Ice. That's Carbon Dioxide in solid form. Pull it out and watch it, you'll see how sublimation works, as it will not "melt" like water ice will at room temps into a liquid, but goes straight from solid to gas.....but it will take time for it to it.

For more fun, drop it into a glass of water and watch it bubble (that's the CO2). Be careful handling it though as it will "burn" your skin.