A new study has provided compelling evidence that Earth, shortly after its formation, was initially dry and lifeless, lacking the essential building blocks for life, such as water and organic compounds. Using precise measurements of the radioactive decay of manganese-53 into chromium-53 in meteorites and terrestrial rocks, the researchers... determined that Earth's basic chemical composition was established within roughly three million years after the Solar System formed. This finding supports the Giant Impact Hypothesis: Earth’s Moon formed when a Mars-sized body, dubbed Theia, collided with our planet about 4.5 billion years ago. Crucially, Theia appears to have originated farther out in the Solar System and carried volatile elements, including water and carbon-rich compounds, that Earth lacked at the time. Therefore, it seems that Earth’s habitability, and ultimately the emergence of life, was not a straightforward outcome of gradual development but rather hinged on this dramatic, chance impact. 👉show more

A 2023 study suggests that inside the Earth there are likely remnants of Theia's mantle, which broke off during the giant impact that also formed the Moon and were too dense to fully mix with Earth's mantle, settling at the core-mantle boundary.

Our form of life. Perhaps another form had it's chances obliterated when the impact occurred.

How did it get the name Theia? Just thinking of linguistics God/Theology etc.

The name Theia comes from Greek mythology: Theia was a Titaness, the mother of Selene, the goddess of the Moon. Astronomers chose it because the hypothetical Mars-sized body is thought to have created the Moon when it collided with Earth. So the name links directly to the Moon’s mythological origins.

I thought there were civilizations that remember when the moon wasn’t there? Hopi, Zulu, and ancient Greeks. Could just be fairytales I guess.

No.

That correlates with the Genesis record.

If true, this is a huge filter in the Fermi Paradox, that any planet in the habital zone of it's star may not have enough volatiles & requires a large input from the edge of it's planetary system to potentially develop life.

When luck strikes ...

At the begining the Earth was in molten state. Mafic Crusts were created and destroyed and earth evolved. Most of the theories suggest that life evolved in the oceans. Around 2.4 billion years ago cyanobactria began profucing free oxygen. In ordovician there was brust of life.

That does not contradict the fact that a major part (if not the whole) of the terrestrial water (and others volatiles) is thought to come from the outer solar system (beyond the ice line). The paper seems to describe a new way of approaching the "late veneer" theory.

This is a Realm. The moon is not a floating rock. Oceans are not convex.

Then how are there so many element isotope matches between Earth / moon (2003 study)? If Theia actually happened, there should be a mix between the two bodies, not complete symmetry with Earth's composition. I'm a Theia skeptic until somebody can answer that one...

Early models of the Giant Impact did predict different isotopic signatures, but later high-resolution studies suggest the impact was so energetic that Earth and Theia’s material mixed thoroughly before the Moon formed, erasing most differences. Some newer models also propose Theia had a very similar composition to Earth to begin with, since both likely formed in the same region of the Solar System. So the isotopic match doesn’t rule out the Theia hypothesis; it’s actually become one of the central challenges driving refinements of the model.

More plausible is Genesis 1:1.

This feels like a Great Filter.

That's silly. Everyone knows the moon is like swiss cheese and inhabited. Take a look at this:

Just a stroke ( strike) of luck that we are here then.

Yet another point for contingency over determinism. Does this imply that Venus, with no large impact generated moon, never had an ocean?

wow amazing video and reason

If that's true then imho, given the size of the Moon, and thus the even bigger size of Theia, it should still be possible to determine the location of the impact.

The exact impact site can’t really be pinpointed today because the collision would have melted and re-mixed Earth’s surface on a global scale, essentially erasing any “crater.” Instead of leaving a localized scar, the energy redistributed material across the whole planet, which is why we look to isotopes, simulations, and the Moon’s properties rather than geography to reconstruct where and how it happened.

Mars had water without a collision. Saturn's moon Titan has water ice and organic compounds.

There are still open questions to be answered with this theory, though. Isotopic similarity, volatile depletion, debris accretion, and angular momentum. I’m still leaning towards the Synestia theory. Which camp are you in on this?

We're just a statistical error right?

yes, i was there and i can indeed confirm this is true

Where did all of the water originate? Exactly when and where did the H and the O become smashed together to form H2O in the first place?

Hydrogen and oxygen themselves formed at very different times: hydrogen was created in the Big Bang about 13.8 billion years ago, while most oxygen was forged much later inside massive stars and spread into space when those stars exploded as supernovae. Water H₂O likely formed when these elements mixed in cold interstellar clouds, where hydrogen and oxygen atoms combined on the surfaces of dust grains. Some of this water was locked into icy bodies, like comets and asteroids, that later delivered it to the young Earth.

Just pure luck, wow.

Wow. Very interesting. This sequence of events supports Brian Cox's claim that life in the universe is relatively rare.

New?

Why are we alone. Because!

kertooko tämän se sama tiede joka suosittelee sinulle kasvomaskia?

Fascinating! This aligns with recent research showing violent collisions weren't destructive—they were essential for habitability. The Theia impact delivered key volatiles and kick-started plate tectonics. Your animation captures how cosmic chaos became our foundation! 🌍✨