Something is Leaking from the Earth’s Core: Helium-3 and Its Geological Mystery

Bandung – As many as 2 kilograms of Helium-3 were found to leak out of the Earth’s core every year. Launching Live Science, recent research shows that Helium-3 can be found in volcanic rocks on the seabed.

Quoted from detikInet, Helium-3 has the potential for fusion reactors and apart from Earth, this compound is also found on the Moon. However, the mechanism by which helium-3 gets there from the core remains a geological mystery.

When the planet Earth formed, helium-3 from the Sun’s early nebula formed into the Earth’s core. But sometimes the gas leaks to the surface. As many as 2,000 grams of Helium-3 were found to leak out of the Earth’s core every year.

With the discovery of helium-3 in the Earth’s core, this is additional evidence that our planet formed in the solar nebula.

“The discovery that the Earth’s core likely contains a large reservoir of helium-3 is further evidence to support the idea that the Earth formed within the expanding solar nebula, not on its outskirts or during its waning phase,” the researchers said as quoted by Live Science.

Helium-3 is an isotope, or variant of helium that has one neutron. It is a rare gas, making up only 0.0001% of the helium on Earth. Helium-3 comes from various processes, one of which is the radioactive decay of tritium, a rare radioactive isotope of hydrogen. But since helium is one of the earliest elements present in the universe, it is most likely that helium-3 originated in the Big Bang.

“Scientists already know that about 2 kilograms of helium-3 leaks from Earth’s interior every year, mostly along mid-ocean ridge systems where tectonic plates meet. This is enough to fill a table-sized balloon,” said study lead author Peter Olson, a geophysicist at the University of New Mexico.

Researchers still have many unanswered questions. Therefore, further research is needed regarding this gas.

This article was published on detikInet with the title Something is Leaking from the Earth’s Core

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2023-10-23 21:00:38
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