Water can Glue Planetesimals Together |
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Written by spacetravel.org
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Monday, 09 May 2005 19:34 |
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Scientists at the Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory in Washington have found that water ice acts like a very strong glue in the low temperatures found in space. At such temperatures, ice spontaneously becomes electrically polarized, creating electric forces that make ice grains stick together like magnets. Sticky ice can stick to dust grains, causing them to adhere and slowly build up larger objects. This can explain how planetesimals might condense out of protoplanetary disks, such as the one that surrounded the Sun after it was formed.
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