Meteorite mineral made in the lab
By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News |
The team use large projectile launchers to create shock waves |
By slamming materials together, scientists have made a mineral that is found naturally only in meteorites and the deep layers of Earth's mantle.
Their successful "shock" experiment reveals new clues about the formation of our early Solar System.
The team report the production of the mineral wadsleyite in the journal PNAS.
Its creation in the lab shows that objects that collided to form the planets may have been far smaller than previously thought. ...