. 24/7 Space News .
EXO WORLDS
Discovery about rare nitrogen molecules offers clues to makeup of life-supporting planets
by Staff Writers
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 07, 2017


Scientists have discovered a planetary-scale tug-of-war between life, deep Earth and the upper atmosphere that is expressed in atmospheric nitrogen. (file image)

A team of scientists using a state-of-the-art UCLA instrument reports the discovery of a planetary-scale "tug-of-war" of life, deep Earth and the upper atmosphere that is expressed in atmospheric nitrogen.

The Earth's atmosphere differs from the atmospheres of most other rocky planets and moons in our solar system in that it is rich in nitrogen gas, or N2; the Earth's atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen gas. Titan, the largest of Saturn's more than 60 moons, is the other body in our solar system with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere that resembles ours.

Compared with other key elements of life - such as oxygen, hydrogen and carbon - molecular nitrogen is very stable. Two nitrogen atoms combine to form N2 molecules that stay in the atmosphere for millions of years.

The majority of nitrogen has an atomic mass of 14. Less than one percent of nitrogen has an extra neutron. While this heavy isotope, nitrogen-15, is rare, N2 molecules that contain two nitrogen-15s - which chemists call 15N15N - are the rarest of all N2 molecules.

The team of scientists measured the amount of 15N15N in air and discovered that this rare form of nitrogen gas is far more abundant than scientists had expected. The Earth's atmosphere contains about two percent more 15N15N than can be accounted for by geochemical processes occurring near the Earth's surface.

"This excess was not known before because nobody could measure it," said senior author Edward Young, a UCLA professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry. "Our one-of-a-kind Panorama mass spectrometer allows us to see this for the first time. We conducted experiments showing that the only way for this excess of 15N15N to occur is by rare reactions in the upper atmosphere. Two percent is a huge excess."

Young said the enrichment of 15N15N in Earth's atmosphere is a signature that's unique to our planet. "But it also gives us a clue about what signatures of other planets might look like, especially if they are capable of supporting life as we know it."

The research is published in the journal Science Advances.

"We didn't believe the measurements at first, and spent about a year just convincing ourselves that they were accurate," said lead author Laurence Yeung, an assistant professor of Earth, environmental and planetary sciences at Rice University.

The study began four years ago when Yeung, then a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in Young's laboratory, learned about the first-of-its-kind mass spectrometer that was being installed in Young's laboratory.

"At that time, no one had a way to reliably quantify 15N15N," said Yeung, who joined Rice's faculty in 2015. "It has an atomic mass of 30, the same as nitric oxide. The signal from nitric oxide usually overwhelms the signal from 15N15N in mass spectrometers."

The difference in mass between nitric oxide and 15N15N is about two one-thousandths the mass of a neutron. When Yeung learned that the new machine in Young's laboratory could discern this slight difference, he applied for grant funding from the National Science Foundation to learn exactly how much 15N15N is in the Earth's atmosphere.

Co-authors Joshua Haslun and Nathaniel Ostrom at Michigan State University conducted experiments on N2-consuming and N2-producing bacteria that allowed the team to determine their 15N15N signatures.

These experiments suggested that one should see a bit more 15N15N in air than random pairings of nitrogen-14 and nitrogen-15 would produce - an enrichment of about 1 part per 1,000, Yeung said.

"There was a bit of enrichment in the biological experiments, but not nearly enough to account for what we'd found in the atmosphere," Yeung said. "In fact, it meant that the process causing the atmospheric 15N15N enrichment has to fight against this biological signature. They are locked in a tug-of-war."

The team found that zapping mixtures of air with electricity, which simulates the chemistry of the upper atmosphere, could produce enriched levels of 15N15N like they measured in air samples.

The researchers tested air samples from ground level and from altitudes of about 20 miles, as well as dissolved air from shallow ocean water samples.

"We think the 15N15N enrichment fundamentally comes from chemistry in the upper atmosphere, at altitudes close to the orbit of the International Space Station," Yeung said. "The tug-of-war comes from life pulling in the other direction, and we can see chemical evidence of that. We can see the tug-of-war everywhere."

EXO WORLDS
Texas A and M-Galveston team finds cave organisms living off methane gas
College Station TX (SPX) Dec 05, 2017
In a surprising find deep in an underwater cave in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a team of researchers led by a Texas A and M University at Galveston doctoral student have discovered that cave-adapted organisms can exist off of methane gas and the bacteria near it, and it raises the possibility that other life forms are also living this way in similar caves around the world. David Brankovits ... read more

Related Links
University of California - Los Angeles
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

EXO WORLDS
Aerospace and Mitchell Institute release new report on policy needs for space operations

The Voyagers in Popular Culture

NASA successfully fires Voyager 1 thrusters after 37 years

NASA Extends Expandable Habitat's Time on the International Space Station

EXO WORLDS
ISRO eyes one rocket launch a month in 2018

Russia to build launch pad for super heavy-lift carrier by 2028

Flat-Earther's self-launch plan hits a snag

Mechanisms are critical to all space vehicles

EXO WORLDS
Brown: Clay on Mars May Have Formed in Primordial Steam Bath

EU exempts fuel for ExoMars mission from Russian sanctions

Winter wanderings put Opportunity at 28 Miles on the odometer

Opportunity Greets Winter Solstice

EXO WORLDS
Nation 'leads world' in remote sensing technology

China plans for nuclear-powered interplanetary capacity by 2040

China plans first sea based launch by 2018

China's reusable spacecraft to be launched in 2020

EXO WORLDS
Regulation and compliance for nontraditional space missions

Orbital ATK purchase by Northrop Grumman approved by shareholders

UK space launch program receives funding boost from Westminster

Going green to the Red Planet

EXO WORLDS
Seaweed could hold key to environmentally friendly sunscreen

Borophene shines alone as 2-D plasmonic material

New microscope sets a record for visualizing surface wetting properties

First step toward practical application of holographic memory with magnetic assist

EXO WORLDS
First Light for Next Generation Planet Hunter ESPRESSO

An Orbital Dance May Help Preserve Oceans on Icy Worlds

The answer to planetary habitability is blowing in the stellar wind

Scallops have 200 eyes, which function like a telescope: study

EXO WORLDS
Jupiter Blues

Research bolsters possibility of plate tectonics on Europa

Pluto's hydrocarbon haze keeps dwarf planet colder than expected

Jupiter's Stunning Southern Hemisphere









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.