space exploration (meteor)dust on the surface of the earth:problem overview
BUT.P.Boyarkina, L.M. Gindilis
Space dust as an astronomical factor
Cosmic dust refers to particles of solid matter ranging in size from fractions of a micron to several microns. Dust matter is one of the important components of outer space. It fills the interstellar, interplanetary and near-Earth space, penetrates the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere and falls on the Earth's surface in the form of the so-called meteor dust, being one of the forms of material (material and energy) exchange in the Space-Earth system. At the same time, it influences a number of processes occurring on the Earth.
Dusty matter in interstellar space
The interstellar medium consists of gas and dust mixed in a ratio of 100:1 (by mass), i.e. the mass of dust is 1% of the mass of gas. The average density of the gas is 1 hydrogen atom per cubic centimeter or 10 -24 g/cm 3 . The dust density is correspondingly 100 times less. Despite such an insignificant density, dusty matter has a significant impact on the processes occurring in the Cosmos. First of all, interstellar dust absorbs light, because of this, distant objects located near the plane of the galaxy (where the dust concentration is greatest) are not visible in the optical region. For example, the center of our Galaxy is observed only in the infrared, radio and X-rays. And other galaxies can be observed in the optical range if they are located far from the galactic plane, at high galactic latitudes. The absorption of light by dust leads to a distortion of the distances to stars determined by the photometric method. Accounting for absorption is one of the most important problems in observational astronomy. When interacting with dust, the spectral composition and polarization of light change.
Gas and dust in the galactic disk are unevenly distributed, forming separate gas and dust clouds, the concentration of dust in them is approximately 100 times higher than in the intercloud medium. Dense gas and dust clouds do not let in the light of the stars behind them. Therefore, they look like dark areas in the sky, which are called dark nebulae. An example is the Coal Sack region in the Milky Way or the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation Orion. If there are bright stars near the gas and dust cloud, then due to the scattering of light on dust particles, such clouds glow, they are called reflection nebulae. An example is the reflection nebula in the Pleiades cluster. The most dense are the clouds of molecular hydrogen H 2 , their density is 10 4 -10 5 times higher than in the clouds of atomic hydrogen. Accordingly, the dust density is the same number of times higher. In addition to hydrogen, molecular clouds contain dozens of other molecules. Dust particles are the condensation nuclei of molecules; chemical reactions occur on their surface with the formation of new, more complex molecules. Molecular clouds are an area of intense star formation.
By composition, interstellar particles consist of a refractory core (silicates, graphite, silicon carbide, iron) and a shell of volatile elements (H, H 2 , O, OH, H 2 O). There are also very small silicate and graphite particles (without a shell) with a size of the order of hundredths of a micron. According to the hypothesis of F. Hoyle and C. Wickramasing, a significant proportion of interstellar dust, up to 80%, consists of bacteria.
The interstellar medium is continuously replenished due to the influx of matter during the ejection of the shells of stars in the late stages of their evolution (especially during supernova explosions). On the other hand, it is itself the source of the formation of stars and planetary systems.
Dusty matter in interplanetary and near-Earth space
Interplanetary dust is formed mainly during the decay of periodic comets, as well as during the crushing of asteroids. The formation of dust occurs continuously, and the process of dust particles falling on the Sun under the action of radiative braking is also continuously going on. As a result, a constantly renewing dusty medium is formed that fills interplanetary space and is in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Although its density is higher than in interstellar space, it is still very small: 10 -23 -10 -21 g/cm 3 . However, it noticeably scatters sunlight. When it is scattered by particles of interplanetary dust, such optical phenomena as zodiacal light, the Fraunhofer component of the solar corona, the zodiac band, and counterradiance arise. Scattering on dust particles also determines the zodiacal component of the glow of the night sky.
Dust matter in the solar system is strongly concentrated towards the ecliptic. In the plane of the ecliptic, its density decreases approximately in proportion to the distance from the Sun. Near the Earth, as well as near other large planets, the concentration of dust under the influence of their attraction increases. Particles of interplanetary dust move around the Sun in decreasing (due to radiative braking) elliptical orbits. Their speed is several tens of kilometers per second. When colliding with solid bodies, including spacecraft, they cause noticeable surface erosion.
Colliding with the Earth and burning up in its atmosphere at an altitude of about 100 km, cosmic particles cause the well-known phenomenon of meteors (or "shooting stars"). On this basis they are called meteor particles, and the whole complex of interplanetary dust is often called meteoric matter or meteoric dust. Most meteor particles are loose bodies of cometary origin. Among them, two groups of particles are distinguished: porous particles with a density of 0.1 to 1 g/cm 3 and so-called dust lumps or fluffy flakes resembling snowflakes with a density of less than 0.1 g/cm 3 . In addition, denser particles of the asteroidal type with a density of more than 1 g/cm 3 are less common. At high altitudes, loose meteors predominate, and at altitudes below 70 km - asteroidal particles with an average density of 3.5 g/cm 3 .
As a result of the crushing of loose meteor bodies of cometary origin at altitudes of 100-400 km from the Earth's surface, a rather dense dust shell is formed, the dust concentration in which is tens of thousands of times higher than in interplanetary space. Scattering of sunlight in this shell causes the twilight glow of the sky when the sun sinks below the horizon below 100 º.
The largest and smallest meteor bodies of the asteroidal type reach the Earth's surface. The first (meteorites) reach the surface due to the fact that they do not have time to completely collapse and burn out when flying through the atmosphere; the second - due to the fact that their interaction with the atmosphere, due to their negligible mass (at a sufficiently high density), occurs without noticeable destruction.
Fallout of cosmic dust on the Earth's surface
If meteorites have long been in the field of view of science, then cosmic dust has not attracted the attention of scientists for a long time.
The concept of cosmic (meteor) dust was introduced into science in the second half of the 19th century, when the famous Dutch polar explorer A.E. Nordenskjöld discovered dust of presumably cosmic origin on the ice surface. Around the same time, in the mid-1970s, Murray (I. Murray) described rounded magnetite particles found in sediments of deep-sea sediments of the Pacific Ocean, the origin of which was also associated with cosmic dust. However, these assumptions did not find confirmation for a long time, remaining within the framework of the hypothesis. At the same time, the scientific study of cosmic dust progressed extremely slowly, as pointed out by Academician V.I. Vernadsky in 1941.
He first drew attention to the problem of cosmic dust in 1908 and then returned to it in 1932 and 1941. In the work "On the study of cosmic dust" V.I. Vernadsky wrote: "... The earth is connected with cosmic bodies and outer space not only through the exchange of different forms of energy. It is closely connected with them materially... Among the material bodies falling on our planet from outer space, meteorites and cosmic dust usually ranked among them are available to our direct study... Meteorites - and at least in some part the fireballs associated with them - are for us, always unexpected in its manifestation ... Cosmic dust is another matter: everything indicates that it falls continuously, and perhaps this continuity of fall exists at every point in the biosphere, is distributed evenly over the entire planet. It is surprising that this phenomenon, one might say, has not been studied at all and completely disappears from scientific accounting.» .
Considering the known largest meteorites in this article, V.I. Vernadsky pays special attention to the Tunguska meteorite, which was searched under his direct supervision by L.A. Sandpiper. Large fragments of the meteorite were not found, and in connection with this, V.I. Vernadsky makes the assumption that he "... is a new phenomenon in the annals of science - the penetration into the area of \u200b\u200bterrestrial gravity not of a meteorite, but of a huge cloud or clouds of cosmic dust moving at cosmic speed» .
To the same topic, V.I. Vernadsky returns in February 1941 in his report "On the necessity of organizing scientific work on cosmic dust" at a meeting of the Committee on Meteorites of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In this document, along with theoretical reflections on the origin and role of cosmic dust in geology and especially in the geochemistry of the Earth, he substantiates in detail the program of searching for and collecting the substance of cosmic dust that has fallen on the Earth's surface, with the help of which, he believes, it is possible to solve a number of problems scientific cosmogony on the qualitative composition and "dominant significance of cosmic dust in the structure of the Universe". It is necessary to study cosmic dust and take it into account as a source of cosmic energy that is continuously brought to us from the surrounding space. The mass of cosmic dust, V.I. Vernadsky noted, possesses atomic and other nuclear energy, which is not indifferent in its existence in the Cosmos and in its manifestation on our planet. To understand the role of cosmic dust, he stressed, it is necessary to have sufficient material for its study. The organization of the collection of cosmic dust and the scientific study of the collected material is the first task facing scientists. Promising for this purpose V.I. Vernadsky considers snow and glacial natural plates of high-mountainous and arctic regions remote from human industrial activity.
The Great Patriotic War and the death of V.I. Vernadsky, prevented the implementation of this program. However, it became topical in the second half of the 20th century and contributed to the intensification of studies of meteor dust in our country.
In 1946, on the initiative of Academician V.G. Fesenkov organized an expedition to the mountains of the Trans-Ili Ala-Tau (Northern Tien Shan), whose task was to study solid particles with magnetic properties in snow deposits. The snow sampling site was chosen on the left lateral moraine of the Tuyuk-Su glacier (altitude 3500 m), most of the ridges surrounding the moraine were covered with snow, which reduced the possibility of contamination with earth dust. It was removed from sources of dust associated with human activities, and surrounded on all sides by mountains.
The method of collecting cosmic dust in the snow cover was as follows. From a strip 0.5 m wide to a depth of 0.75 m, snow was collected with a wooden spatula, transferred and melted in an aluminum container, merged into a glass container, where a solid fraction precipitated for 5 hours. Then the upper part of the water was drained, a new batch of melted snow was added, and so on. As a result, 85 buckets of snow were melted from a total area of 1.5 m 2 , with a volume of 1.1 m 3 . The resulting precipitate was transferred to the laboratory of the Institute of Astronomy and Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, where the water was evaporated and subjected to further analysis. However, since these studies did not give a definite result, N.B. Divari came to the conclusion that in this case it is better to use either very old compacted firns or open glaciers for snow sampling.
Significant progress in the study of cosmic meteor dust occurred in the middle of the 20th century, when, in connection with the launches of artificial Earth satellites, direct methods for studying meteor particles were developed - their direct registration by the number of collisions with a spacecraft or different kind traps (installed on satellites and geophysical rockets launched to a height of several hundred kilometers). An analysis of the obtained materials made it possible, in particular, to detect the presence of a dust shell around the Earth at altitudes from 100 to 300 km above the surface (as discussed above).
Along with the study of dust using spacecraft, particles were studied in the lower atmosphere and various natural accumulators: in high-mountain snows, in the ice sheet of Antarctica, in the polar ice of the Arctic, in peat deposits and deep sea silt. The latter are observed mainly in the form of so-called "magnetic balls", that is, dense spherical particles with magnetic properties. The size of these particles is from 1 to 300 microns, weight is from 10 -11 to 10 -6 g.
Another direction is connected with the study of astrophysical and geophysical phenomena associated with cosmic dust; this includes various optical phenomena: the glow of the night sky, noctilucent clouds, zodiacal light, counterradiance, etc. Their study also makes it possible to obtain important data on cosmic dust. Meteor studies were included in the program of the International Geophysical Year 1957-1959 and 1964-1965.
As a result of these works, estimates of the total influx of cosmic dust to the Earth's surface were refined. According to T.N. Nazarova, I.S. Astapovich and V.V. Fedynsky, the total influx of cosmic dust to the Earth reaches up to 107 tons/year. According to A.N. Simonenko and B.Yu. Levin (according to 1972 data), the influx of cosmic dust to the Earth's surface is 10 2 -10 9 t / year, according to other, later studies - 10 7 -10 8 t / year.
Research continued to collect meteoric dust. At the suggestion of Academician A.P. Vinogradov during the 14th Antarctic expedition (1968-1969), work was carried out in order to identify the patterns of spatio-temporal distributions of the deposition of extraterrestrial matter in the ice sheet of Antarctica. The surface layer of snow cover was studied in the areas of Molodezhnaya, Mirny, Vostok stations and in the area of about 1400 km between Mirny and Vostok stations. Snow sampling was carried out from pits 2-5 m deep at points remote from polar stations. Samples were packed in polyethylene bags or special plastic containers. Under stationary conditions, the samples were melted in a glass or aluminum dish. The resulting water was filtered using a collapsible funnel through membrane filters (pore size 0.7 μm). The filters were wetted with glycerol, and the amount of microparticles was determined in transmitted light at a magnification of 350X.
The polar ice , bottom sediments of the Pacific Ocean , sedimentary rocks , and salt deposits were also studied . At the same time, the search for melted microscopic spherical particles, which are quite easily identified among other dust fractions, proved to be a promising direction.
In 1962, the Commission on Meteorites and Cosmic Dust was established at the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Academician V.S. Sobolev, which existed until 1990 and whose creation was initiated by the problem of the Tunguska meteorite. Works on the study of cosmic dust were carried out under the guidance of Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences N.V. Vasiliev.
When assessing the fallout of cosmic dust, along with other natural plates, we used peat composed of brown sphagnum moss according to the method of the Tomsk scientist Yu.A. Lvov. This moss is quite widespread in the middle zone of the globe, receives mineral nutrition only from the atmosphere and has the ability to conserve it in a layer that was surface when dust hit it. Layer-by-layer stratification and dating of peat makes it possible to give a retrospective assessment of its loss. Both spherical particles 7–100 µm in size and the microelement composition of the peat substrate were studied, as functions of the dust contained in it.
The procedure for separating cosmic dust from peat is as follows. On the site of the raised sphagnum bog, a site is selected with a flat surface and a peat deposit composed of brown sphagnum moss (Sphagnum fuscum Klingr). Shrubs are cut off from its surface at the level of the moss sod. A pit is laid to a depth of 60 cm, a site of the required size is marked at its side (for example, 10x10 cm), then a peat column is exposed on two or three of its sides, cut into layers of 3 cm each, which are packed in plastic bags. The upper 6 layers (tows) are considered together and can serve to determine age characteristics according to the method of E.Ya. Muldiyarova and E.D. Lapshina. Each layer is washed under laboratory conditions through a sieve with a mesh diameter of 250 microns for at least 5 minutes. The humus with mineral particles that has passed through the sieve is settled until the sediment is completely precipitated, then the sediment is poured into a Petri dish, where it is dried. Packed in tracing paper, the dry sample is convenient for transportation and for further study. Under appropriate conditions, the sample is ashed in a crucible and a muffle furnace for an hour at a temperature of 500-600 degrees. The ash residue is weighed and either examined under a binocular microscope at a magnification of 56 times to identify spherical particles of 7-100 microns or more in size, or subjected to other types of analysis. Because Since this moss receives mineral nutrition only from the atmosphere, its ash component may be a function of the cosmic dust included in its composition.
Thus, studies in the area of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite, many hundreds of kilometers away from sources of man-made pollution, made it possible to estimate the influx of spherical particles of 7-100 microns and more to the Earth's surface. The upper layers of peat made it possible to estimate the fallout of the global aerosol during the study; layers dating back to 1908 - substances of the Tunguska meteorite; the lower (pre-industrial) layers - cosmic dust. The influx of cosmic microspherules to the Earth's surface is estimated at (2-4)·10 3 t/year, and in general, cosmic dust - 1.5·10 9 t/year. Analytical methods of analysis, in particular, neutron activation, were used to determine the trace element composition of cosmic dust. According to these data, annually on the Earth's surface falls from outer space (t/year): iron (2·10 6), cobalt (150), scandium (250).
Of great interest in terms of the above studies are the works of E.M. Kolesnikova and co-authors, who discovered isotopic anomalies in the peat of the area where the Tunguska meteorite fell, dating back to 1908 and speaking, on the one hand, in favor of the cometary hypothesis of this phenomenon, on the other hand, shedding light on the cometary substance that fell on the Earth's surface.
The most complete review of the problem of the Tunguska meteorite, including its substance, for 2000 should be recognized as the monograph by V.A. Bronshten. The latest data on the substance of the Tunguska meteorite were reported and discussed at the International Conference "100 years of the Tunguska phenomenon", Moscow, June 26-28, 2008. Despite the progress made in the study of cosmic dust, a number of problems still remain unresolved.
Sources of metascientific knowledge about cosmic dust
Along with the data obtained by modern methods of research, the information contained in non-scientific sources is of great interest: “Letters of the Mahatmas”, the Teaching of Living Ethics, letters and works of E.I. Roerich (in particular, in her work "Study of Human Properties", where an extensive program of scientific research is given for many years to come).
So in a letter from Kut Humi in 1882 to the editor of the influential English-language newspaper "Pioneer" A.P. Sinnett (the original letter is kept in the British Museum) gives the following data on cosmic dust:
- “High above our earthly surface, the air is saturated and the space is filled with magnetic and meteoric dust, which does not even belong to our solar system”;
- "Snow, especially in our northern regions, is full of meteoric iron and magnetic particles, deposits of the latter are found even at the bottom of the oceans." “Millions of similar meteors and the finest particles reach us every year and every day”;
- "every atmospheric change on the Earth and all perturbations come from the combined magnetism" of two large "masses" - the Earth and meteor dust;
There is "the terrestrial magnetic attraction of meteor dust and the latter's direct effect on sudden changes in temperature, especially with regard to heat and cold";
Because “our earth, with all the other planets, is rushing through space, it receives most of the cosmic dust on its northern hemisphere than on the southern”; “... this explains the quantitative predominance of continents in the northern hemisphere and the greater abundance of snow and dampness”;
- “The heat that the earth receives from the rays of the sun is, to the greatest extent, only a third, if not less, of the amount it receives directly from meteors”;
- “Powerful accumulations of meteoric matter” in interstellar space lead to a distortion of the observed intensity of starlight and, consequently, to a distortion of the distances to stars obtained by photometry.
A number of these provisions were ahead of the science of that time and were confirmed by subsequent studies. Thus, studies of the twilight glow of the atmosphere, carried out in the 30-50s. XX century, showed that if at altitudes less than 100 km the glow is determined by the scattering of sunlight in a gaseous (air) medium, then at altitudes above 100 km scattering by dust particles plays a predominant role. The first observations made with the help of artificial satellites led to the discovery of a dust shell of the Earth at altitudes of several hundred kilometers, as indicated in the above-mentioned letter from Kut Hoomi. Of particular interest are data on distortions of distances to stars obtained by photometric methods. In essence, this was an indication of the presence of interstellar extinction, discovered in 1930 by Trempler, which is rightfully considered one of the most important astronomical discoveries of the 20th century. Accounting for interstellar extinction led to a reassessment of the scale of astronomical distances and, as a result, to a change in the scale of the visible Universe.
Some provisions of this letter - about the influence of cosmic dust on processes in the atmosphere, in particular on the weather - have not yet found scientific confirmation. Here further study is needed.
Let us turn to another source of metascientific knowledge - the Teaching of Living Ethics, created by E.I. Roerich and N.K. Roerich in collaboration with the Himalayan Teachers - Mahatmas in the 20-30s of the twentieth century. The Living Ethics books originally published in Russian have now been translated and published in many languages of the world. They pay great attention to scientific problems. In this case, we will be interested in everything related to cosmic dust.
The problem of cosmic dust, in particular its influx to the Earth's surface, is given quite a lot of attention in the Teaching of Living Ethics.
“Pay attention to high places exposed to winds from snowy peaks. At the level of twenty-four thousand feet, one can observe special deposits of meteoric dust" (1927-1929). “Aeroliths are not studied enough, and even less attention is paid to cosmic dust on eternal snows and glaciers. Meanwhile, the Cosmic Ocean draws its rhythm on the peaks ”(1930-1931). "Meteor dust is inaccessible to the eye, but gives very significant precipitation" (1932-1933). “In the purest place, the purest snow is saturated with earthly and cosmic dust - this is how space is filled even with rough observation” (1936).
Much attention is paid to the issues of cosmic dust in the Cosmological Records by E.I. Roerich (1940). It should be borne in mind that H.I. Roerich closely followed the development of astronomy and was aware of its latest achievements; she critically evaluated some theories of that time (20-30 years of the last century), for example, in the field of cosmology, and her ideas were confirmed in our time. The Teaching of Living Ethics and Cosmological Records of E.I. Roerich contain a number of provisions on those processes that are associated with the fallout of cosmic dust on the Earth's surface and which can be summarized as follows:
In addition to meteorites, material particles of cosmic dust constantly fall on the Earth, which bring cosmic matter that carries information about the Far Worlds of outer space;
Cosmic dust changes the composition of soils, snow, natural waters and plants;
This is especially true for the places where natural ores occur, which are not only a kind of magnets that attract cosmic dust, but we should also expect some differentiation depending on the type of ore: “So iron and other metals attract meteors, especially when the ores are in a natural state and not devoid of cosmic magnetism";
Much attention in the Teaching of Living Ethics is paid to mountain peaks, which, according to E.I. Roerich "... are the greatest magnetic stations". "... The Cosmic Ocean draws its own rhythm on the peaks";
The study of cosmic dust may lead to the discovery of new, as yet undiscovered modern science minerals, in particular - metal, which has properties that help to store vibrations with the distant worlds of outer space;
When studying cosmic dust, new types of microbes and bacteria may be discovered;
But what is especially important, the Living Ethics Teaching opens a new page of scientific knowledge - the impact of cosmic dust on living organisms, including man and his energy. It can have various effects on the human body and some processes on the physical and, especially, subtle planes.
This information is beginning to be confirmed in modern scientific research. So in recent years, complex organic compounds have been discovered on cosmic dust particles, and some scientists have started talking about cosmic microbes. In this regard, of particular interest are the works on bacterial paleontology carried out at the Institute of Paleontology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In these works, in addition to terrestrial rocks, meteorites were studied. It is shown that the microfossils found in meteorites are traces of the vital activity of microorganisms, some of which are similar to cyanobacteria. In a number of studies, it was possible to experimentally show the positive effect of cosmic matter on plant growth and substantiate the possibility of its influence on the human body.
The authors of the Teaching of Living Ethics strongly recommend organizing constant monitoring of the fallout of cosmic dust. And as its natural accumulator, use glacial and snow deposits in the mountains at an altitude of over 7 thousand meters. The Roerichs, living for many years in the Himalayas, dream of creating a scientific station there. In a letter dated October 13, 1930, E.I. Roerich writes: “The station should develop into the City of Knowledge. We want to give a synthesis of achievements in this City, therefore all areas of science should subsequently be represented in it ... The study of new cosmic rays, which give humanity new most valuable energies, possible only at heights, because all the most subtle and most valuable and powerful lies in the purer layers of the atmosphere. Also, don’t all the meteor showers that fall on snowy peaks and are carried down to the valleys by mountain streams deserve attention? .
Conclusion
The study of cosmic dust has now become an independent area of modern astrophysics and geophysics. This problem is especially topical, since meteoric dust is a source of cosmic matter and energy that is continuously brought to the Earth from outer space and actively influences geochemical and geophysical processes, as well as having a peculiar effect on biological objects, including humans. These processes are still largely unexplored. In the study of cosmic dust, a number of provisions contained in the sources of metascientific knowledge have not been properly applied. Meteor dust manifests itself in terrestrial conditions not only as a phenomenon of the physical world, but also as matter, carrying energy outer space, including the worlds of other dimensions and other states of matter. Accounting for these provisions requires the development of a completely new method for studying meteoric dust. But the most important task is still the collection and analysis of cosmic dust in various natural reservoirs.
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By mass, solid particles of dust make up a negligible part of the Universe, but it is thanks to interstellar dust that stars, planets and people studying space and simply admiring the stars have arisen and continue to appear. What kind of substance is this - cosmic dust? What makes people equip expeditions into space worth the annual budget of a small state in the hope of only, and not in firm certainty, to extract and bring to Earth at least a tiny handful of interstellar dust?
Between stars and planets
Dust in astronomy is called small, fractions of a micron in size, solid particles flying in outer space. Cosmic dust is often conditionally divided into interplanetary and interstellar dust, although, obviously, interstellar entry into interplanetary space is not prohibited. Just finding it there, among the “local” dust, is not easy, the probability is low, and its properties near the Sun can change significantly. Now, if you fly away, to the borders of the solar system, there the probability of catching real interstellar dust is very high. The ideal option is to go beyond the solar system altogether.
Interplanetary dust, at least in comparative proximity to the Earth, is a fairly well-studied matter. Filling the entire space of the solar system and concentrated in the plane of its equator, it was born for the most part as a result of random collisions of asteroids and the destruction of comets approaching the Sun. The composition of dust, in fact, does not differ from the composition of meteorites falling to the Earth: it is very interesting to study it, and there are still a lot of discoveries to be made in this area, but there seems to be no particular intrigue here. But thanks to precisely this dust, in fine weather in the west immediately after sunset or in the east before sunrise, you can admire the pale cone of light above the horizon. This is the so-called zodiacal - sunlight scattered by small cosmic dust particles.
Much more interesting is interstellar dust. Its distinctive feature is the presence of a solid core and shell. The core appears to consist mainly of carbon, silicon, and metals. And the shell is mainly made of gaseous elements frozen on the surface of the nucleus, crystallized in the conditions of “deep freezing” of interstellar space, and this is about 10 kelvins, hydrogen and oxygen. However, there are impurities of molecules in it and more complicated. These are ammonia, methane, and even polyatomic organic molecules that stick to a grain of dust or form on its surface during wanderings. Some of these substances, of course, fly away from its surface, for example, under the action of ultraviolet radiation, but this process is reversible - some fly away, others freeze or are synthesized.
Now, in the space between stars or near them, of course, not chemical, but physical, that is, spectroscopic methods have already been found: water, oxides of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and silicon, hydrogen chloride, ammonia, acetylene, organic acids, such as formic and acetic, ethyl and methyl alcohols, benzene, naphthalene. They even found an amino acid - glycine!
It would be interesting to catch and study the interstellar dust penetrating the solar system and probably falling to the Earth. The problem of its "catching" is not easy, because few interstellar dust particles manage to keep their ice "coat" in the sun, especially in the Earth's atmosphere. Large ones heat up too much - their cosmic speed cannot be quickly extinguished, and the dust particles "burn". Small ones, however, plan in the atmosphere for years, retaining part of the shell, but here the problem arises of finding and identifying them.
There is another very intriguing detail. It concerns the dust, the nuclei of which are composed of carbon. Carbon synthesized in the cores of stars and leaving into space, for example, from the atmosphere of aging (like red giants) stars, flying out into interstellar space, cools and condenses - in much the same way as after a hot day, fog from cooled water vapor collects in the lowlands. Depending on the crystallization conditions, layered structures of graphite, diamond crystals (just imagine - whole clouds of tiny diamonds!) and even hollow balls of carbon atoms (fullerenes) can be obtained. And in them, perhaps, like in a safe or a container, particles of the atmosphere of a very ancient star are stored. Finding such dust particles would be a huge success.
Where is space dust found?
It must be said that the very concept of cosmic vacuum as something completely empty has long remained only a poetic metaphor. In fact, the entire space of the Universe, both between stars and galaxies, is filled with matter, flows of elementary particles, radiation and fields - magnetic, electric and gravitational. All that can be touched, relatively speaking, is gas, dust and plasma, whose contribution to the total mass of the Universe, according to various estimates, is only about 1-2% with an average density of about 10-24 g/cm 3 . Gas in space is the most, almost 99%. This is mainly hydrogen (up to 77.4%) and helium (21%), the rest account for less than two percent of the mass. And then there is dust - its mass is almost a hundred times less than gas.
Although sometimes the emptiness in interstellar and intergalactic space is almost ideal: sometimes there is 1 liter of space for one atom of matter! There is no such vacuum either in terrestrial laboratories or within the solar system. For comparison, we can give the following example: in 1 cm 3 of the air we breathe, there are approximately 30,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules.
Distributed this matter in interstellar space is very uneven. Most of the interstellar gas and dust forms a gas and dust layer near the plane of symmetry of the Galactic disk. Its thickness in our galaxy is several hundred light-years. Most of the gas and dust in its spiral branches (arms) and core are concentrated mainly in giant molecular clouds ranging in size from 5 to 50 parsecs (16-160 light years) and weighing tens of thousands and even millions of solar masses. But even within these clouds, the matter is also distributed inhomogeneously. In the main volume of the cloud, the so-called fur coat, mainly from molecular hydrogen, the particle density is about 100 pieces per 1 cm 3. In densifications inside the cloud, however, it reaches tens of thousands of particles per 1 cm 3 , and in the cores of these densifications, in general, millions of particles per 1 cm 3 . It is this irregularity in the distribution of matter in the universe that owes the existence of stars, planets, and, ultimately, ourselves. Because it is in molecular clouds, dense and relatively cold, that stars are born.
What is interesting: the higher the density of the cloud, the more diverse it is in composition. At the same time, there is a correspondence between the density and temperature of the cloud (or its individual parts) and those substances whose molecules meet there. On the one hand, this is convenient for studying clouds: by observing their individual components in different spectral ranges along the characteristic lines of the spectrum, for example, CO, OH or NH 3, you can "look" into one or another part of it. And on the other hand, data on the composition of the cloud allows you to learn a lot about the processes taking place in it.
In addition, in interstellar space, judging by the spectra, there are also substances whose existence under terrestrial conditions is simply impossible. These are ions and radicals. Their chemical activity is so high that they immediately react on Earth. And in the rarefied cold space of space, they live long and quite freely.
In general, gas in interstellar space is not only atomic. Where it is colder, no more than 50 kelvins, the atoms manage to stay together, forming molecules. However, a large mass of interstellar gas is still in the atomic state. This is mainly hydrogen, its neutral form was discovered relatively recently - in 1951. As you know, it emits radio waves with a length of 21 cm (frequency 1420 MHz), the intensity of which determined how much it is in the Galaxy. Incidentally, it is distributed inhomogeneously in the space between the stars. In clouds of atomic hydrogen, its concentration reaches several atoms per 1 cm3, but between clouds it is orders of magnitude less.
Finally, near hot stars, gas exists in the form of ions. Powerful ultraviolet radiation heats and ionizes the gas, and it begins to glow. That is why areas with a high concentration of hot gas, with a temperature of about 10,000 K, look like luminous clouds. They are called light gas nebulae.
And in any nebula, to a greater or lesser extent, there is interstellar dust. Despite the fact that nebulae are conditionally divided into dusty and gaseous, there is dust in both of them. And in any case, it is dust that apparently helps stars form in the depths of nebulae.
fog objects
Among all space objects, nebulae are perhaps the most beautiful. True, dark nebulae in the visible range look just like black blobs in the sky - they are best observed against the background of the Milky Way. But in other ranges of electromagnetic waves, such as infrared, they are visible very well - and the pictures are very unusual.
Nebulae are isolated in space, connected by gravitational forces or external pressure, accumulations of gas and dust. Their mass can be from 0.1 to 10,000 solar masses, and their size can be from 1 to 10 parsecs.
At first, astronomers were annoyed by nebulae. Until the middle of the 19th century, the discovered nebulae were considered as an annoying hindrance that prevented observing stars and searching for new comets. In 1714, the Englishman Edmond Halley, whose name the famous comet bears, even compiled a “black list” of six nebulae so that they would not mislead the “comet catchers”, and the Frenchman Charles Messier expanded this list to 103 objects. Fortunately, musician Sir William Herschel, his sister and son, who was in love with astronomy, became interested in nebulae. Observing the sky with their own built telescopes, they left behind a catalog of nebulae and star clusters, with information about 5,079 space objects!
The Herschels practically exhausted the possibilities of optical telescopes of those years. However, the invention of photography and the long exposure time made it possible to find very faintly luminous objects. A little later, spectral methods of analysis, observations in various ranges of electromagnetic waves made it possible in the future not only to discover many new nebulae, but also to determine their structure and properties.
An interstellar nebula looks bright in two cases: either it is so hot that its gas itself glows, such nebulae are called emission nebulae; or the nebula itself is cold, but its dust scatters the light of a nearby bright star - this is a reflection nebula.
Dark nebulae are also interstellar accumulations of gas and dust. But unlike light gaseous nebulae, sometimes visible even with strong binoculars or a telescope, such as the Orion Nebula, dark nebulae do not emit light, but absorb it. When the light of a star passes through such nebulae, the dust can completely absorb it, converting it into infrared radiation invisible to the eye. Therefore, such nebulae look like starless dips in the sky. V. Herschel called them "holes in the sky." Perhaps the most spectacular of these is the Horsehead Nebula.
However, dust particles may not completely absorb the light of stars, but only partially scatter it, while selectively. The fact is that the size of interstellar dust particles is close to the wavelength of blue light, so it is scattered and absorbed more strongly, and the “red” part of the light of stars reaches us better. By the way, this good way estimate the size of dust grains by how they attenuate light of different wavelengths.
star from the cloud
The reasons for the formation of stars have not been precisely established - there are only models that more or less reliably explain the experimental data. In addition, the ways of formation, properties and further fate of stars are very diverse and depend on very many factors. However, there is a well-established concept, or rather, the most developed hypothesis, the essence of which, in the most general terms, is that stars are formed from interstellar gas in areas with an increased density of matter, that is, in the depths of interstellar clouds. Dust as a material could be ignored, but its role in the formation of stars is enormous.
This happens (in the most primitive version, for a single star), apparently, like this. First, a protostellar cloud condenses from the interstellar medium, which may be due to gravitational instability, but the reasons may be different and are not yet fully understood. One way or another, it contracts and attracts matter from the surrounding space. The temperature and pressure at its center rise until the molecules at the center of this shrinking ball of gas begin to disintegrate into atoms and then into ions. Such a process cools the gas, and the pressure inside the core drops sharply. The core is compressed, and a shock wave propagates inside the cloud, discarding its outer layers. A protostar is formed, which continues to shrink under the influence of gravitational forces until thermonuclear fusion reactions begin in its center - the conversion of hydrogen into helium. Compression continues for some time, until the forces of gravitational compression are balanced by the forces of gas and radiant pressure.
It is clear that the mass of the formed star is always less than the mass of the nebula that "produced" it. Part of the matter that did not have time to fall onto the nucleus is “swept out” by the shock wave, radiation and particle flows simply into the surrounding space during this process.
The process of formation of stars and stellar systems is influenced by many factors, including the magnetic field, which often contributes to the "break" of the protostellar cloud into two, less often three fragments, each of which is compressed into its own protostar under the influence of gravity. This is how, for example, many binary star systems arise - two stars that revolve around a common center of mass and move in space as a single whole.
As the "aging" of the nuclear fuel in the bowels of stars gradually burns out, and the faster, the larger the star. In this case, the hydrogen cycle of reactions is replaced by helium, then, as a result of nuclear fusion reactions, increasingly heavier chemical elements are formed, up to iron. In the end, the nucleus, which does not receive more energy from thermonuclear reactions, sharply decreases in size, loses its stability, and its substance, as it were, falls on itself. A powerful explosion occurs, during which matter can heat up to billions of degrees, and interactions between nuclei lead to the formation of new chemical elements, up to the heaviest ones. The explosion is accompanied by a sharp release of energy and the release of matter. A star explodes - this process is called a supernova explosion. Ultimately, the star, depending on the mass, will turn into a neutron star or a black hole.
This is probably what actually happens. In any case, there is no doubt that young, that is, hot, stars and their clusters are most of all just in nebulae, that is, in areas with an increased density of gas and dust. This is clearly seen in photographs taken by telescopes in different wavelength ranges.
Of course, this is nothing more than the crudest summary of the sequence of events. For us, two points are fundamentally important. First, what is the role of dust in the formation of stars? And the second - where, in fact, does it come from?
Universal coolant
In the total mass of cosmic matter, dust itself, that is, atoms of carbon, silicon and some other elements combined into solid particles, is so small that, in any case, as a building material for stars, it would seem that they can not be taken into account. However, in fact, their role is great - it is they who cool the hot interstellar gas, turning it into that very cold dense cloud, from which stars are then obtained.
The fact is that interstellar gas cannot cool itself. The electronic structure of the hydrogen atom is such that it can give up excess energy, if any, by emitting light in the visible and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum, but not in the infrared range. Figuratively speaking, hydrogen cannot radiate heat. In order to cool down properly, it needs a “refrigerator”, the role of which is precisely played by particles of interstellar dust.
During a collision with dust grains at high speed - unlike heavier and slower dust grains, gas molecules fly quickly - they lose speed and their kinetic energy is transferred to the dust grain. It also heats up and gives off this excess heat to the surrounding space, including in the form of infrared radiation, while itself cools down. So, taking on the heat of interstellar molecules, the dust acts as a kind of radiator, cooling the gas cloud. There is not much of it by mass - about 1% of the mass of the entire substance of the cloud, but this is enough to remove excess heat over millions of years.
When the temperature of the cloud drops, so does the pressure, the cloud condenses and stars can already be born from it. The remnants of the material from which the star was born are, in turn, the source for the formation of planets. Here, dust particles are already included in their composition, and in larger quantities. Because, having been born, the star heats up and accelerates all the gas around it, and the dust remains to fly nearby. After all, it is able to cool and is attracted to a new star much stronger than individual gas molecules. In the end, next to the newborn star is a dust cloud, and on the periphery - dust-saturated gas.
Gas planets such as Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are born there. Well, solid planets appear near the star. We have Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury. It turns out a fairly clear division into two zones: gas planets and solid ones. So the Earth turned out to be largely made of interstellar dust particles. Metallic dust particles have become part of the planet's core, and now the Earth has a huge iron core.
Mystery of the young universe
If the galaxy has formed, then where does the dust come from - in principle, scientists understand. Its most significant sources are novae and supernovae, which lose part of their mass, "dumping" the shell into the surrounding space. In addition, dust is also born in the expanding atmosphere of red giants, from where it is literally swept away by radiation pressure. In their cool, by the standards of stars, atmosphere (about 2.5 - 3 thousand kelvins) there are quite a lot of relatively complex molecules.
But here's a mystery that hasn't been solved yet. It has always been believed that dust is a product of the evolution of stars. In other words, stars must be born, exist for some time, grow old and, say, produce dust in the last supernova explosion. What came first, the egg or the chicken? The first dust necessary for the birth of a star, or the first star, which for some reason was born without the help of dust, grew old, exploded, forming the very first dust.
What was in the beginning? After all, when the Big Bang happened 14 billion years ago, there were only hydrogen and helium in the Universe, no other elements! It was then that the first galaxies, huge clouds, and in them the first stars began to emerge from them, which had to go a long way in life. Thermonuclear reactions in the cores of stars were supposed to “weld” more complex chemical elements, turn hydrogen and helium into carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and so on, and only after that the star had to throw it all into space, exploding or gradually dropping the shell. Then this mass had to cool, cool down and, finally, turn into dust. But already 2 billion years after the Big Bang, in the earliest galaxies, there was dust! With the help of telescopes, it was discovered in galaxies that are 12 billion light years away from ours. At the same time, 2 billion years is too short a period for the full life cycle of a star: during this time, most stars do not have time to grow old. Where the dust came from in the young Galaxy, if there should be nothing but hydrogen and helium, is a mystery.
Dust - reactor
Not only does interstellar dust act as a kind of universal refrigerant, it is perhaps thanks to dust that complex molecules appear in space.
The fact is that the surface of a grain of dust can simultaneously serve as a reactor in which molecules are formed from atoms, and as a catalyst for the reactions of their synthesis. After all, the probability that many atoms of different elements will collide at once at one point, and even interact with each other at a temperature slightly above absolute zero, is unimaginably small. On the other hand, the probability that a grain of dust will sequentially collide in flight with various atoms or molecules, especially inside a cold dense cloud, is quite high. Actually, this is what happens - this is how the shell of interstellar dust grains is formed from the met atoms and molecules frozen on it.
On a solid surface, atoms are side by side. Migrating over the surface of a dust grain in search of the most energetically favorable position, atoms meet and, being in close proximity, get the opportunity to react with each other. Of course, very slowly - in accordance with the temperature of the dust. The surface of particles, especially those containing a metal in the core, can exhibit the properties of a catalyst. Chemists on Earth are well aware that the most effective catalysts are just particles a fraction of a micron in size, on which molecules are assembled and then react, which under normal conditions are completely “indifferent” to each other. Apparently, molecular hydrogen is also formed in this way: its atoms "stick" to a grain of dust, and then fly away from it - but already in pairs, in the form of molecules.
It may very well be that small interstellar dust grains, having retained in their shells a few organic molecules, including the simplest amino acids, brought the first "seeds of life" to Earth about 4 billion years ago. This, of course, is nothing more than a beautiful hypothesis. But in its favor is the fact that an amino acid, glycine, was found in the composition of cold gas and dust clouds. Maybe there are others, just so far the capabilities of telescopes do not allow them to be detected.
Hunting for dust
It is possible, of course, to study the properties of interstellar dust at a distance - with the help of telescopes and other instruments located on the Earth or on its satellites. But it is much more tempting to catch interstellar dust particles, and then to study in detail, to find out - not theoretically, but practically, what they consist of, how they are arranged. There are two options here. You can get to the depths of space, collect interstellar dust there, bring it to Earth and analyze it in all possible ways. Or you can try to fly out of the solar system and analyze the dust along the way right on board the spacecraft, sending the received data to Earth.
The first attempt to bring samples of interstellar dust, and in general the substance of the interstellar medium, was made by NASA several years ago. The spacecraft was equipped with special traps - collectors for collecting interstellar dust and cosmic wind particles. To catch dust particles without losing their shell, the traps were filled with a special substance - the so-called airgel. This very light foamy substance (whose composition is a trade secret) resembles jelly. Once in it, dust particles get stuck, and then, as in any trap, the lid slams shut to be open already on Earth.
This project was called Stardust - Stardust. His program is great. After the launch in February 1999, the equipment on board will eventually collect samples of interstellar dust and, separately, dust in the immediate vicinity of the comet Wild-2, which flew near the Earth in February last year. Now with containers filled with this most valuable cargo, the ship is flying home to land on January 15, 2006 in Utah, near Salt Lake City (USA). That's when astronomers will finally see with their own eyes (with the help of a microscope, of course) those very dust particles, the models of the composition and structure of which they have already predicted.
And in August 2001, Genesis flew for samples of matter from deep space. This NASA project was aimed mainly at capturing solar wind particles. After spending 1,127 days in outer space, during which it flew about 32 million km, the ship returned and dropped a capsule with the obtained samples onto Earth - traps with ions, particles of the solar wind. Alas, a misfortune happened - the parachute did not open, and the capsule slammed to the ground with all its might. And crashed. Of course, the wreckage was collected and carefully studied. However, in March 2005, at a conference in Houston, a participant in the program, Don Barnetty, said that four collectors with solar wind particles were not affected, and scientists are actively studying their contents, 0.4 mg of the captured solar wind, in Houston.
However, now NASA is preparing a third project, even more grandiose. This will be the Interstellar Probe space mission. This time the spacecraft will move away at a distance of 200 AU. e. from the Earth (a. e. - the distance from the Earth to the Sun). This ship will never return, but the whole will be “stuffed” with a wide variety of equipment, including for analyzing samples of interstellar dust. If all goes well, interstellar dust particles from deep space will finally be captured, photographed and analyzed - automatically, right on board the spacecraft.
Formation of young stars
1. A giant galactic molecular cloud with a size of 100 parsecs, a mass of 100,000 suns, a temperature of 50 K, a density of 10 2 particles / cm 3. Inside this cloud there are large-scale condensations - diffuse gas and dust nebulae (1-10 pc, 10,000 suns, 20 K, 103 particles/cm 4 particles/cm3). Inside the latter, there are clusters of globules 0.1 pc in size, with a mass of 1-10 suns and a density of 10-10 6 particles / cm 3, where new stars are formed.
2. The birth of a star inside a gas and dust cloud
3. A new star with its radiation and stellar wind accelerates the surrounding gas away from itself
4. A young star enters space, clean and free of gas and dust, pushing the nebula that gave birth to it
Stages of the "embryonic" development of a star, equal in mass to the Sun
5. The origin of a gravitationally unstable cloud 2,000,000 suns in size, with a temperature of about 15 K and an initial density of 10 -19 g/cm 3
6. After several hundred thousand years, this cloud forms a core with a temperature of about 200 K and a size of 100 suns, its mass is still only 0.05 of the solar
7. At this stage, the core with temperatures up to 2,000 K shrinks sharply due to hydrogen ionization and simultaneously heats up to 20,000 K, the velocity of matter falling onto a growing star reaches 100 km/s
8. A protostar the size of two suns with a temperature of 2x10 5 K at the center and 3x10 3 K on the surface
9. The last stage in the pre-evolution of a star is slow compression, during which lithium and beryllium isotopes burn out. Only after the temperature rises to 6x10 6 K, thermonuclear reactions of helium synthesis from hydrogen start in the interior of the star. The total duration of the birth cycle of a star like our Sun is 50 million years, after which such a star can quietly burn for billions of years
Olga Maksimenko, Candidate of Chemical Sciences
Cosmic dust, its composition and properties are little known to a person who is not associated with the study of extraterrestrial space. However, such a phenomenon leaves its traces on our planet! Let us consider in more detail where it comes from and how it affects life on Earth.
The concept of space dust
Cosmic dust on Earth is most often found in certain layers of the ocean floor, ice sheets of the polar regions of the planet, peat deposits, hard-to-reach places in the desert and meteorite craters. The size of this substance is less than 200 nm, which makes its study problematic.
Usually the concept of cosmic dust includes the delimitation of the interstellar and interplanetary varieties. However, all this is very conditional. The most convenient option for studying this phenomenon is the study of dust from space at the edges of the solar system or beyond.
The reason for this problematic approach to the study of the object is that the properties of extraterrestrial dust change dramatically when it is near a star such as the Sun.
Theories on the origin of cosmic dust
Streams of cosmic dust constantly attack the surface of the Earth. The question arises where this substance comes from. Its origin gives rise to many discussions among specialists in this field.
There are such theories of the formation of cosmic dust:
- Decay of celestial bodies. Some scientists believe that space dust is nothing more than the result of the destruction of asteroids, comets and meteorites.
- The remnants of a protoplanetary type cloud. There is a version according to which cosmic dust is referred to as microparticles of a protoplanetary cloud. However, such an assumption raises some doubts due to the fragility of a finely dispersed substance.
- The result of the explosion on the stars. As a result of this process, according to some experts, there is a powerful release of energy and gas, which leads to the formation of cosmic dust.
- Residual phenomena after the formation of new planets. The so-called construction "garbage" has become the basis for the occurrence of dust.
The main types of cosmic dust
There is currently no specific classification of cosmic dust types. Subspecies can be distinguished by visual characteristics and location of these microparticles.
Consider seven groups of cosmic dust in the atmosphere, different in external indicators:
- Gray fragments of irregular shape. These are residual phenomena after the collision of meteorites, comets and asteroids no larger than 100-200 nm in size.
- Particles of slag-like and ash-like formation. Such objects are difficult to identify solely by external signs, because they have undergone changes after passing through the Earth's atmosphere.
- The grains are round in shape, which are similar in parameters to black sand. Outwardly, they resemble powder of magnetite (magnetic iron ore).
- Small black circles with a characteristic sheen. Their diameter does not exceed 20 nm, which makes their study a painstaking task.
- Larger balls of the same color with a rough surface. Their size reaches 100 nm and makes it possible to study their composition in detail.
- Balls of a certain color with a predominance of black and white tones with inclusions of gas. These microparticles of cosmic origin consist of a silicate base.
- Spheres of heterogeneous structure made of glass and metal. Such elements are characterized by microscopic dimensions within 20 nm.
- Dust found in intergalactic space. This view can distort the size of distances in certain calculations and is able to change the color of space objects.
- Formations within the Galaxy. The space within these limits is always filled with dust from the destruction of cosmic bodies.
- Matter concentrated between stars. It is most interesting due to the presence of a shell and a core of a solid consistency.
- Dust located near a certain planet. It is usually located in the ring system of a celestial body.
- Clouds of dust around the stars. They circle the orbital path of the star itself, reflecting its light and creating a nebula.
- metal group. Representatives of this subspecies have a specific gravity of more than five grams per cubic centimeter, and their basis consists mainly of iron.
- silicate group. The base is clear glass with a specific gravity of approximately three grams per cubic centimeter.
- Mixed group. The very name of this association indicates the presence of both glass and iron in the structure of microparticles. The base also includes magnetic elements.
- Spherules with hollow filling. This species is often found in places where meteorites fall.
- Spherules of metal formation. This subspecies has a core of cobalt and nickel, as well as a shell that has oxidized.
- Spheres of uniform addition. Such grains have an oxidized shell.
- Balls with a silicate base. The presence of gas inclusions gives them the appearance of ordinary slags, and sometimes foam.
It should be remembered that these classifications are very arbitrary, but they serve as a certain guideline for designating types of dust from space.
Composition and characteristics of the components of cosmic dust
Let's take a closer look at what cosmic dust is made of. There is a problem in determining the composition of these microparticles. Unlike gaseous substances, solids have a continuous spectrum with relatively few bands that are blurred. As a result, the identification of cosmic dust grains is difficult.
The composition of cosmic dust can be considered on the example of the main models of this substance. These include the following subspecies:
- Ice particles, the structure of which includes a core with a refractory characteristic. The shell of such a model consists of light elements. In particles of large size there are atoms with elements of magnetic properties.
- Model MRN, the composition of which is determined by the presence of silicate and graphite inclusions.
- Oxide space dust, which is based on diatomic oxides of magnesium, iron, calcium and silicon.
- Balls with a metallic nature of education. The composition of such microparticles includes such an element as nickel.
- Metal balls with the presence of iron and the absence of nickel.
- Circles on a silicone basis.
- Irregular-shaped iron-nickel balls.
Soils are fertile for the presence of cosmic material. A particularly large number of spherules were found in the places where meteorites fell. They were based on nickel and iron, as well as various minerals such as troilite, cohenite, steatite and other components.
Glaciers also hide aliens from outer space in the form of dust in their blocks. Silicate, iron and nickel serve as the basis for the found spherules. All mined particles were classified into 10 clearly demarcated groups.
Difficulties in determining the composition of the studied object and differentiating it from impurities of terrestrial origin leave this issue open for further research.
The influence of cosmic dust on life processes
The influence of this substance has not been fully studied by specialists, which provides great opportunities in terms of further activities in this direction. At a certain height, using rockets, they discovered a specific belt consisting of cosmic dust. This gives grounds to assert that such an extraterrestrial substance affects some of the processes occurring on planet Earth.
Influence of cosmic dust on the upper atmosphere
Recent studies suggest that the amount of cosmic dust can affect the change in the upper atmosphere. This process is very significant, because it leads to certain fluctuations in the climatic characteristics of planet Earth.
A huge amount of dust from the collision of asteroids fills the space around our planet. Its amount reaches almost 200 tons per day, which, according to scientists, cannot but leave its consequences.
Most susceptible to this attack, according to the same experts, the northern hemisphere, whose climate is predisposed to cold temperatures and dampness.
The impact of cosmic dust on cloud formation and climate change is not well understood. New research in this area gives rise to more and more questions, the answers to which have not yet been received.
Influence of dust from space on the transformation of oceanic silt
Irradiation of cosmic dust by the solar wind leads to the fact that these particles fall to the Earth. Statistics show that the lightest of the three isotopes of helium in large quantities falls through dust particles from space into oceanic silt.
The absorption of elements from space by minerals of ferromanganese origin served as the basis for the formation of unique ore formations on the ocean floor.
At the moment, the amount of manganese in areas that are close to the Arctic Circle is limited. All this is due to the fact that cosmic dust does not enter the World Ocean in those areas due to ice sheets.
Influence of cosmic dust on the composition of the ocean water
If we consider the glaciers of Antarctica, they amaze with the number of meteorite remains found in them and the presence of cosmic dust, which is a hundred times higher than the usual background.
An excessively high concentration of the same helium-3, valuable metals in the form of cobalt, platinum and nickel, makes it possible to assert with certainty the fact of the intervention of cosmic dust in the composition of the ice sheet. At the same time, the substance of extraterrestrial origin remains in its original form and not diluted by the waters of the ocean, which in itself is a unique phenomenon.
According to some scientists, the amount of cosmic dust in such peculiar ice sheets over the past million years is on the order of several hundred trillion formations of meteorite origin. During the period of warming, these covers melt and carry elements of cosmic dust into the World Ocean.
Watch a video about space dust:
This cosmic neoplasm and its influence on some factors of the vital activity of our planet have not yet been studied enough. It is important to remember that the substance can affect climate change, the structure of the ocean floor and the concentration of certain substances in the waters of the oceans. Photographs of cosmic dust testify to how many more mysteries these microparticles are fraught with. All this makes the study of this interesting and relevant!
Cosmic factors are of cosmic origin. These include the flow of cosmic dust, cosmic rays, etc. The most important cosmic factor is solar radiation. The rays of the sun are the source of energy used by plants in the process of photosynthesis. Crop production can be considered as a system of measures to intensify the photosynthesis of cultivated plants.[ ...]
Space resources, such as solar radiation, the energy of sea tides and the like, are practically inexhaustible, and their protection (for example, the Sun) cannot be the subject of environmental protection, since humanity does not have such opportunities. However, the flow of solar energy to the surface of the Earth depends on the state of the atmosphere, the degree of its pollution - those factors that can be controlled by a person.[ ...]
FACTOR [lat. factor making, producing] - the driving force of the ongoing processes or the condition affecting the processes. F. anthropogenic - a factor that owes its origin to human activity. F. climatic - a factor associated with the features of the receipt of solar energy, the circulation of air masses, the balance of heat and moisture, atmospheric pressure, and other climatic processes. F. the cosmic factor, the source of which is processes taking place outside the Earth (changes in solar activity, the flow of cosmic rays, etc.). F. transforming - 1) any internal or external influence in relation to the individual, causing persistent adaptation processes.[ ...]
Space medicine is a complex of sciences covering medical, biological and other scientific research and activities aimed at ensuring safety and creating optimal conditions for human life in space flight and when entering outer space. Its sections include: the study of the influence of conditions and factors of space flight on the human body, the elimination of their adverse effects and the development of preventive measures and means; substantiation and formulation of medical requirements for life support systems of habitable space objects; prevention and treatment of diseases; medical justifications for the rational construction of space object control systems; development of medical methods for the selection and training of astronauts.[ ...]
The law of refraction of cosmic influences testifies to the cosmic impact on the biosphere: cosmic factors, influencing the biosphere and especially its subdivisions, are subject to change by the planet's ecosphere and therefore, in terms of strength and time, manifestations can be weakened and shifted or even completely lose their effect. Generalization here is important due to the fact that there is often a stream of synchronous effects of solar activity and other cosmic factors on the Earth's ecosystems and the organisms inhabiting it (Fig. 12.57).[ ...]
The role of factors that do not depend on population density in the formation of cycles of population dynamics is associated with the cyclical nature of long-term changes in climate and weather types. On this basis, the hypothesis of “climatic cycles” of abundance arose (Ch. At present, this hypothesis has received a “rebirth” in the form of a “concept of the relationship between the dynamics of the number of animals and eleven-year cycles of solar activity. In particular, in some cases, the coincidence of the cycles of the abundance of mammals (mainly rodents) and solar activity can be recorded objectively. Thus, a correlation was found between the levels of solar activity and long-term changes in the abundance of the California vole Micmtus califomicus; it is believed that this may be the result of both the direct action of the cosmic factor and secondary factors correlated with solar activity, in particular climate The direct influence of the weather in these observations is also noted on smaller time scales.[ ...]
On board the spacecraft, the astronaut's body is continuously affected by an unusual factor for the inhabitants of the Earth - weightlessness. There are no attractive forces, the body becomes unusually light, while the blood also becomes weightless.[ ...]
The main factor influencing and influencing the atmosphere and the Earth in general is, of course, the Sun. The atmosphere, its structure and composition largely depend on solar electromagnetic radiation as the main external source of energy. The corpuscular fluxes of the solar wind, solar and galactic cosmic rays also significantly affect the atmosphere. Significantly affect the atmosphere and other external factors, such as the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Moon, magnetic, electric fields of the Earth, etc.[ ...]
External factors include: changes in illumination (photoperiodism), temperature (thermoperiodism), magnetic field, intensity of cosmic radiation, ebbs and flows, seasonal and solar-lunar influences.[ ...]
IONIZERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. Factors leading to the formation of light ions in the atmosphere (see atmospheric ionization). These factors are: radioactive emissions associated with radioactive elements in soil and rocks and their emanations; ultraviolet and x-ray solar radiation, cosmic and solar corpuscular radiation (in the ionosphere). Of secondary importance are quiet electrical discharges, combustion.[ ...]
Many environmental factors on our planet, primarily the light regime, temperature, air pressure and humidity, atmospheric electromagnetic field, sea tides, etc., naturally change under the influence of this rotation. Living organisms are also affected by such cosmic rhythms as periodic changes in solar activity. The Sun has an 11-year cycle and a number of other cycles. Changes in solar radiation have a significant impact on the climate of our planet. In addition to the cyclical impact of abiotic factors, external rhythms for any organism are regular changes in activity, as well as the behavior of other living beings.[ ...]
ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS - a combination of factors - from the cosmic effects of the Universe on the Solar System to the direct impact of the environment on an individual, population or community.[ ...]
LIGHT is the most important ecological factor of cosmic nature, which provides energy for the production of primary organic matter to photoautotrophs (containing chlorophyll green plants and cyanobacteria) and is an inexhaustible resource, as it constantly comes to Earth as a result of solar radiation..[ ...]
The establishment of A.L. Chizhevsky of the influence of cosmic factors on terrestrial processes put him in this direction of scientific research on a par with the pioneers of cosmic natural science - A. Humboldt, K.E. Tsiolkovsky, V.I. Vernadsky.[ ...]
The main stages in the preparation and execution of space flights, which determine the degree of material and physical factors of influence on the ecosphere and near-Earth space, are: construction and operation of spaceports; prelaunch preparation and maintenance; active and passive parts of the flight; correction and maneuvering of the spacecraft on the flight path; re-injection of the spacecraft from the intermediate to the working orbit; spacecraft flight and maneuvering in outer space and return to Earth.[ ...]
Features of the impact on the biosphere from cosmic factors and manifestations of solar activity are that the surface of our planet (where the "film of life" is concentrated) is, as it were, separated from the Cosmos by a powerful layer of matter in the gaseous state, i.e., the atmosphere. The abiotic component of the terrestrial environment includes a set of climatic, hydrological, soil and soil conditions, i.e., a set of elements that are dynamic in time and space, interconnected and affecting living organisms. The atmosphere, as an environment that perceives cosmic and solar-related factors, has the most important climate-forming function.[ ...]
The reaction of the animal organism to the information environmental factor depends not only on its quality, but also on its quantity (intensity). An example is the response of animals to the impact of sound signaling (noise). The natural noise background has a favorable effect on organisms - it is one of the important factors for the optimal functioning of individuals, populations and biocenoses. Noise is considered natural, equal to the sounds that occur during the flow of rivers, the movement of the wind, the rustle of leaves, the breathing of animals, etc. A sharp decrease or, conversely, an increase in background noise is a limiting factor that negatively affects the body. Dead silence in a spacecraft negatively affects the psychological state of astronauts, their clinical and physiological status. Too much noise also has a negative effect on the body. They have an irritating effect, disrupt the activity of the digestive and metabolic organs in mammals and birds.[ ...]
The young Earth, immediately after its formation, was a cold cosmic body, and in its depths the temperature still nowhere exceeded the melting point of matter. This, in particular, is evidenced by the complete absence on Earth of very ancient igneous (and any other) rocks older than 4 billion years, as well as lead isotope ratios, which show that the processes of differentiation of terrestrial matter began noticeably later than the formation of the Earth itself and proceeded without significant melting. In addition, there were no oceans or atmosphere on the earth's surface at that time. Therefore, the effective mechanical figure of merit of the Earth in that early period of its development, which we will hereafter refer to as the Catarchean period, was relatively high. According to seismic data, in the developed oceanic lithosphere, i.e. in cold terrestrial matter of mantle composition, the quality factor is in the range from 1000 to 2000, while in the partially molten asthenosphere under volcanoes its value drops to 100.[ ...]
But, moreover, the biologist cannot but take into account one factor that he leaves aside. This factor is the main form of energy that manifests itself in the biosphere and underlies all its geological phenomena, including living matter. This energy is not only the energy of the Sun, which seems to us to be geologically eternal and fluctuations in which are imperceptible during the evolutionary process, but also other cosmic energy, which, apparently, inevitably changes in its intensity during the evolutionary process. [...]
The ionization of the lower and middle atmosphere is mainly determined by the following factors: cosmic rays, which ionize the entire atmosphere; UV and X-ray radiation from the Sun. The ionizing effect of UV and X-ray radiation is manifested at altitudes of more than 50-60 km.[ ...]
Changes in the ionosphere in the polar regions of the Earth are also associated with solar cosmic rays, which cause ionization. During powerful flares of solar activity, the impact of solar cosmic rays can briefly exceed the usual background of galactic cosmic rays. At present, science has accumulated a lot of factual materials illustrating the influence of cosmic factors on biospheric processes. In particular, the sensitivity of invertebrates to changes in solar activity has been proven, a correlation of its variations with the dynamics of the human nervous and cardiovascular systems, as well as with the dynamics of diseases - hereditary, oncological, infectious, etc.[ ...]
Infinitely great quantity and infinitely varied quality of physical and chemical factors of the environment around us from all sides - nature. Powerful interacting forces come from outer space. The sun, moon, planets and an infinite number of celestial bodies are connected to the earth by invisible bonds. The movement of the Earth is controlled by the forces of gravity, which cause a series of deformations in the air, liquid and solid shells of our planet, make them pulsate, and produce tides. The position of the planets in the solar system affects the distribution and strength of the Earth's electrical and magnetic forces.[ ...]
V. I. Vernadsky was one of the first to realize that humanity has become a powerful geological and, possibly, cosmic force capable of transforming nature on a large scale. He noted that man embraced the entire biosphere with his life and culture and seeks to further deepen and expand the sphere of his influence. The biosphere, from his point of view, is gradually transformed into the noosphere - the sphere of the mind. V. I. Vernadsky considered the noosphere as the highest stage in the development of the biosphere, when the rational activity of man becomes the determining factor. He associated the transformation of the biosphere into the noosphere with the development of science, the deepening of scientific insight into the essence of the processes occurring in nature and the organization on this basis of rational human activity. V. I. Vernadsky was convinced that noospheric humanity would find a way to restore and maintain ecological balance on the planet, develop and put into practice a strategy for the crisis-free development of nature and society. At the same time, he believed that a person is quite capable of assuming the functions of managing the ecological development of the planet as a whole.[ ...]
After numerous international expeditions in Antarctica, it was found that, in addition to various physical and geographical factors, the presence of a significant amount of chlorofluorocarbons (fpeons) in the atmosphere is still the main one. The latter are widely used both in production and everyday life as refrigerants, foaming agents, solvents in aerosol packages, etc. Freons, rising into the upper layers of the atmosphere, undergo photochemical decomposition with the formation of chlorine oxide, which intensively destroys ozone. In total, about 1300 thousand tons of ozone-depleting substances are produced in the world. In recent years, it has been established that emissions from supersonic aircraft can lead to the destruction of 10% of the ozone layer of the atmosphere, so one launch of a space shuttle of the Shuttle type leads to the “quenching” of at least 10 million tons of ozone. Simultaneously with the depletion of the ozone layer in the stratosphere, an increase in the concentration of ozone in the troposphere near the Earth's surface is noted, but this cannot compensate for the depletion of the ozone layer, since its mass in the troposphere is barely 10% of the mass in the ozonosphere.[ ...]
In 1975, the Section of Chemical-Technological and Chemical Sciences of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in its resolution noted the importance of the problem “Influence of cosmic factors on processes occurring on Earth”, emphasizing that the outstanding merit in the formulation and development of this problem “belongs to A.L. Chizhevsky, who first expressed the idea of a close dependence of phenomena occurring in the biosphere on cosmic factors, and academician V.I. Vernadsky - the creator of the doctrine of the biosphere” .[ ...]
IRRADIATION - exposure to a living organism of any type of radiation: infrared (thermal radiation), visible and ultraviolet sunlight, cosmic rays and ionizing radiation of terrestrial origin. The biological effect of O. depends on the dose, type and energy of O., accompanying factors and the physiological state of the organism. O. external - irradiation of the body from sources of ionizing radiation that are outside it. O. internal - exposure of the body from sources of ionizing radiation located inside it. O - I modifying conditions - time, localization, concomitant factors. If the dose rate (the amount of radiation energy absorbed per unit time) is very small, then even daily exposures throughout a person's life will not be able to have a noticeably pronounced damaging effect. [ ... ]
The structure of the atmosphere considered in Chapter 4 was formed as a result of a complex effect on the air shell of our planet of two factors - outer space, mainly on the upper layers, and the earth's surface through the lower layers.[ ...]
Impurities of natural origin, as a rule, are not atmospheric pollution, except for those cases when they temporarily turn out to be either limiting factors in relation to living organisms, or significantly (but mostly locally) change some of the physicochemical properties of the atmosphere, for example, its transparency, reflectivity, thermal conditions. Thus, cosmic dust (finely dispersed residues from the destruction and combustion of meteorite matter), smoke and soot from forest and steppe fires, dust from the weathering of rocks, or surface masses of soil and sand captured by wind currents, including during dust and sand storms, tornadoes, hurricanes are not pollutants. Sometimes highly dispersed dust-like particles suspended in the air in calm conditions can serve as nuclei for moisture condensation and contribute to the formation of fogs. As a result of the evaporation of water splashes, tiny salt crystals are constantly found in the air above the surface of the seas and oceans. Multi-ton masses of solid matter erupt from the craters of active volcanoes.[ ...]
The removal of hydrogen from the circulation during its binding into chemical compounds other than water (dispersed organic matter of rocks, hypergene silicates), as well as during dispersion in outer space, is a very important factor from the point of view of the evolution of conditions on our planet. Without the removal of hydrogen, but only with its redistribution between the reservoirs, there could not have been a change in the redox balance towards the formation of an oxidizing environment on Earth.[ ...]
STRATOSPHERIC AEROSOLS. Aerosol particles in the stratosphere, which are the result of volcanic eruptions, the introduction of condensation nuclei from the troposphere during strong convection, the actions of jet aircraft, etc., are also particles of cosmic dust. Their increase increases the planetary albedo of the Earth and lowers the air temperature; therefore S.A. are a global climate factor.[ ...]
Life on Earth was formed under the influence of environmental conditions. The latter is a combination of energy, material bodies, phenomena that are in interaction (direct and indirect). This concept is very broad: from the cosmic effects of the Universe on the solar system, the influence of the Sun as the main source of energy, on earth processes to the direct effects of the environment (including humans) on an individual, population, community. The concept of environmental conditions includes components that do not affect or have little effect on the life of organisms (inert gases of the atmosphere, abiogenic elements of the earth's crust) and those that significantly affect the life of biota. They are called environmental factors (light, temperature, water, air movement and composition, soil properties, salinity, radioactivity, etc.). Environmental factors act together, although in some cases one factor prevails over others and is decisive in the responses of living organisms (for example, temperature in the arctic and subarctic zones or deserts).[ ...]
The biodynamic farming system is used in Sweden, Denmark, Germany. It includes the basic principles common to other alternative farming systems. The difference between this farming system and others is that, in addition to bioinert elements, it takes into account cosmic factors and their rhythm that affect the phenophases of cultivated crops.[ ...]
In our country, the problem of "human ecology" is devoted to a sufficient number of works, but there is still no consensus on the legitimacy of such a science and its subject. So, G. I. Tsaregorodtsev (1976) used the term "human ecology" to mean "the interaction of mankind with natural environmental factors." Yu. P. Lisitsin (1973), A. V. Katsura, I. V. Novik (1974), O. V. Baroyan (1975) and others believe that “human ecology” should study optimal conditions human life as a biological species (climatic, weather, space, etc.) and a social being (psychological, social, economic, political, etc.).[ ...]
The atmosphere is the gaseous envelope of the Earth. The composition of dry atmospheric air: nitrogen - 78.08%, oxygen - 20.94%, carbon dioxide - 0.033%, argon - 0.93%. The rest is impurities: neon, helium, hydrogen, etc. Water vapor makes up 3-4% of the air volume. The density of the atmosphere at sea level is 0.001 g/cm'. The atmosphere protects living organisms from the harmful effects of cosmic rays and the ultraviolet spectrum of the sun, and also prevents a sharp fluctuation in the temperature of the planet. At an altitude of 20-50 km, the main part of the energy of ultraviolet rays is absorbed due to the conversion of oxygen into ozone, forming the ozone layer. The total ozone content is not more than 0.5% of the mass of the atmosphere, which is 5.15-1013 tons. The maximum ozone concentration is at an altitude of 20-25 km. The ozone screen is the most important factor in the preservation of life on Earth. The pressure in the troposphere (surface layer of the atmosphere) decreases by 1 mm Hg. pillar when lifting every 100 meters.[ ...]
For a long time it was believed that spontaneous mutations are causeless, but now there are other ideas on this issue, which boil down to the fact that spontaneous mutations are not causeless, that they are the result of natural processes occurring in cells. They arise under the conditions of the Earth's natural radioactive background in the form of cosmic radiation, radioactive elements on the Earth's surface, radionuclides incorporated into the cells of organisms that cause these mutations, or as a result of DNA replication errors. Factors in the Earth's natural radioactive background cause changes in the sequence of bases or damage to the bases, similar to the case of induced mutations (see below).[ ...]
Atmospheric aerosol, as a very small but perhaps the most variable admixture in the atmosphere, plays an important role in the most varied scientific and applied problems of atmospheric physics. In practice, aerosol completely determines the optical weather and the extremely variable regime of direct and diffuse radiation in the atmosphere. The role of aerosol in the radiative regime of the atmosphere and in the informativity of space optical methods for studying the Earth is becoming increasingly clear. Aerosol is an active participant and often the final product of the most complex cycles of chemical and photochemical reactions in the atmosphere. The role of aerosol as one of the ozone-active components of the atmosphere is great. Aerosol can be both a source and sink of atmospheric ozone, for example, due to heterogeneous reactions of various gaseous impurities in the atmosphere. It is possible that it is precisely the catalytic action of the aerosol, which has a fine height distribution structure, that determines the correlation between the aerosol and ozone layers observed by Rosen and Kondratiev. The spectral attenuation of an aerosol of solar direct and diffuse radiation is a factor that is very difficult to take into account for the correct determination of the content of impurities by atmospheric methods. Therefore, the study of aerosol and, above all, its spectral properties is a natural part of ozonometric studies.[ ...]
The free surface of the oceans and seas is called a flat surface. It is a surface perpendicular at each point to the direction of the resultant of all forces acting on it at a given place. The surface of the World Ocean, under the influence of various forces, experiences periodic, non-periodic and other fluctuations, deviating from the average long-term value closest to the surface of the geoid. The main forces that cause these fluctuations can be combined into the following groups: a) cosmic - tide-forming forces; b) physical and mechanical, related to the distribution of solar radiation over the Earth's surface, and the impact of atmospheric processes, such as changes in the distribution of pressure and winds, precipitation, fluctuations in river runoff and other hydrometeorological factors; c) geodynamic, associated with tectonic movements of the earth's crust, seismic and geothermal phenomena.[ ...]
As already mentioned, the fresh waters of rivers and lakes, our main source of water supply, are different. These differences arose initially and are associated with the climatic zone and the characteristics of the area in which the reservoir is located. Water is a universal solvent, which means that its saturation with minerals depends on the soil and the rocks underlying it. In addition, water is mobile and therefore its composition is affected by precipitation, snowmelt, floods, and tributaries flowing into a larger river or lake. Take, for example, the Neva, the main source of drinking water in St. Petersburg: it is mainly fed by Lake Ladoga, one of the freshest lakes in the world. Ladoga water contains little calcium and magnesium salts, which makes it very soft, there is little aluminum, manganese and nickel in it, but quite a lot of nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, and phosphorus. Finally, the microbiological composition of water depends on the aquatic flora and fauna, on forests and meadows on the banks of the reservoir, and on many other reasons, not excluding cosmic factors. Thus, the pathogenicity of microbes increases sharply during the years of solar activity: previously almost harmless ones become dangerous, and dangerous ones become simply deadly.
How much coffee can you drink per day? This question is often asked by those who cannot imagine their life without this invigorating drink. Surely everyone knows that freshly brewed coffee can lower high blood pressure, as well as prevent the development of dementia. However, many experts argue that high doses of caffeine that enter the body within one day can pose a huge risk to human health. So how much coffee can you drink per day? In order to answer this question, you should find out the positive and negative aspects of the daily consumption of this drink.
One cup a day
Two cups a day
- Pros. This amount of drink can save a person from Although it should be noted that these conclusions were made by scientists on the basis of studies that were conducted only on animals. Thus, experts note that approximately 200 mg of caffeine per day (or 2 cups of coffee) helps prevent the accumulation of proteins in the brain, which cause
How much coffee can you drink per day? In answer to this question, it should be noted that exactly two cups of this invigorating drink half an hour before training can significantly increase the performance of an athlete, providing him with more energy.
- Minuses. How many times can pregnant women drink coffee a day? During pregnancy, the upper limit of caffeine intake is 200 mg. If this value is exceeded, then the level of adrenaline in the body may increase, which ultimately increases the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.
Three cups a day
- Pros. How much can you drink per day? This amount of an invigorating drink (3 cups) is allowed if you need to reduce the likely risk of developing an ovarian tumor or gallstone disease.
- Minuses. Drinking 3 or more cups of coffee a day significantly increases the risk of a heart attack.
Four cups a day
- Pros. How many cups of coffee can you drink a day? Not so long ago, scientists found that people who consume 400 mg of a drink a day are about 40% less likely to suffer from cancer of the larynx and oral cavity. Moreover, this amount of coffee can significantly reduce the risk of developing a prostate tumor, as well as the onset of diabetes.
- Minuses. Those who drink about 4 cups of coffee a day are about twice as likely to suffer from a disease such as rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers have proven that the mentioned amount of invigorating drink contributes to the characteristic chemical reactions in the body, which ultimately lead to inflammation and pain in the joints.
Five cups a day
- Pros. Scientists at the Cancer Center in Tokyo found that consuming this amount of caffeine significantly reduced the risk (by about 3/4) of serious liver damage. As you know, their conclusions were based on a study of about 90 thousand middle-aged people for 10 years.
- Minuses. According to many years of research, this amount of coffee drunk per day can contribute to the development of osteoporosis. This is due to the fact that caffeine interferes with the absorption of calcium, which ultimately leads to the development of this disease. Many experts dispute this assumption. They argue that to date there is no convincing evidence that coffee negatively affects the bones, although they still do not recommend drinking this amount of the drink.
Six cups a day
Summing up
Now you know how many cups of coffee you can drink a day without harm to health. It should also be noted that not only this or that amount of an invigorating drink, but also its quality can affect your well-being. That is why it is recommended to choose only natural
