Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields

Re:Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magneti... by cletus on Monday June 07, 2021 @10:13PM (#27429882)

That's an interesting idea. A couple of thoughts spring to mind.

First is that the heaviest of the "natural" fusion byproducts is iron. Iron is magnetic. How significant is that? Does that make it more likely iron will form into clumps? Given the seeming importance of iron to an industrialized society, at least based on our own experience, this bears more investigation.

The second is that you know other substance has a whole bunch of magnetic properties, particularly at low temperatures and/or high pressures? Oxygen.

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Re:Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magneti... by topspin on Monday June 07, 2021 @10:33PM (#27430029)

"Does that make it more likely iron will form into clumps?"

Anyone that's seen iron filings line up on magnetic field lines can answer that. Iron drifting around in space will react readily to magnetic fields.

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Re:Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magneti... by thaumasiotes on Tuesday June 08, 2021 @06:16AM (#27432746)

> Given the seeming importance of iron to an industrialized society

Is it more important now than it was in medieval society? We make more of it, but that seems to be mostly because we can, not because it became more important.

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