Oh boy! Simple isotopy! You are given a small (very small) sample of a meteorite

Question

Oh boy! Simple isotopy! You are given a small (very small) sample of a meteorite, which appears to contain primarily two minerals, pyroxene (Ca, Mg, Fe)SiO_3 and plagioclase feldspar (NaAlSi_3O_8-CaAl_2 Si_2O_8). After you separate the two fine-grained minerals from one another, you are able to constrain the following isotopic ratios using mass spectroscopic techniques: Pyroxene 0.718 0.501 Feldspar 0.749 8.09 a) Using what you know about isochrons, calculate a date of formation of the rock (the half-life of ^87Rb decay is about 4.90 times 10^10 yrs): what is its initial daughter nuclide ratio? b) Now explain your answer: focus on where and how this meteorite might have formed, focusing particularly on its composition, age and initial daughter nuclide ratio.

Explanation / Answer

a) Isochrones- It can be defined as the method of dating which is a common techniques of radiometric dating and is applied to date the certains incidents or events such as the crystallization, metamorphism and the shock events and the differentiation of the presursor melts. by the help of this techique we can easily determined the age of certains earth particles, minerals as well as some of the space particles like meteroits. it is because to the fact that it also comprises of the radioactive materials and hence by estimating and analyse the rate and decay of the radioactive nulei in them we can determined the age of such objects.

For this we are given that the particle is composite of the pyroxene and feldspere. the rate of decay with the isochrones is based upon the calculation regarding the half life of the particle.

So half life is 4.9x10^10 years. so the following data give us the estimation age of daughter nuclei is about 2.8 billions years.

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b) As the half life is given in terms of the the decay of the radioacive materials in the given particles. now to console the formation of such particles can be estimated from the fact of geology and the behaviour of the radioactive materials which we discussed already in the above context.

Such types of materoites are formed in the region of space or the earth parts where the temperature is very high and the pressure is too very high.. in terms of initial state of formation of such particles we can disclose it as these are formed by the reations of certains radioactive materials which are already parts of certain planets as drawft ones. by the huge velocity they when change one atmospheric region to another result in the formation of materoites like fireballs.

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