this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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Science Memes

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top 32 comments
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[–] ummthatguy@lemmy.world 98 points 1 year ago
[–] JoYo@lemmy.ml 48 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m pretty sure everyone is allergic to having their skin and lungs rubbed with mica.

[–] verdare@beehaw.org 12 points 1 year ago

Yeah, moon dust is basically microscopic shrapnel. No one should be breathing that shit in.

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Moon dust is functionally a lot like asbestos. It is composed of a sizeable amount of tiny shards of rock that aren't great for your lungs.

[–] stiephel@feddit.de 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yea, you should really consider that before breathing on the moon

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Any lunar dust that they made contact with would have found its way into the lunar module for them to breathe in and be exposed to.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Isn't moon dust just sand?

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 85 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's sand that has never been exposed to water or oxygen. This leaves various reactive chemicals on the surface that would normally be broken down. The lack of water also means the particles haven't been smoothed off as much. They are sharp and spiky.

The combination of these effects makes the dust quite unique, compared to earth dust.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It also reportedly smells like gunpowder.

[–] prayer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Burned or unburned? They are two distinct smells.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 year ago

Burned, according to the astronauts. I don’t know if the exact mechanism has been published anywhere, but since spent gunpowder has been oxidized I imagine that’s what’s going on with the dust as well.

[–] vind@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

50% SiO2, 15% Al2O3, 10% CaO, 10% MgO, 5% TiO2 and 5-15% iron

[–] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 45 points 1 year ago

And 100% reason to remember the name.

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 11 points 1 year ago

All those oxides but the iron is pure? SUS.

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Sand, but sharp due to a lack of water erosion, and formed mostly from asteroid impacts and thermal cycling. So it's more like glass dust. It's possible it has similar effects on lungs as asbestos, but we don't know for sure.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago
[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Jack Schmidt = Anakin confirmed.

[–] rustydomino@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

More like Jack Schmidt = Cave Johnson

[–] halvar@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

Not being allergic to finely graded rocks that have been bathing in radiation for billions of years seems more unlikely.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The sample size is at least a little bit bigger...

Some guy stole moon rocks (presumably still had moon dust on them) to bang his gf on them.

[–] salarua@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Roberts was sentenced to more than eight years in prison for his role in the Moonrock caper, as well as a separate offence of stealing dinosaur bones from a museum in Utah.

I'm afraid to ask what he did with the dinosaur bones!

[–] credo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Boned on bones, obviously.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Thank you so much

[–] gitamar@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[–] Raxiel@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

So, if someone were to crash the moon into the earth to stop it escaping, as many as 1/12 of the population could experience a reduced quality of life?

Might need to consider not doing that I suppose.

[–] grubberfly@mander.xyz 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

what'd be the smallest sample size that would yield a relevant result?

30? 1000?

[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Shellbeach@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can we not... Just... Bring back some moon dust?

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

There's the possibility of contamination if we do that.

[–] flora_explora@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, if humans were a homogeneous population maybe that could work. But just imagine the huge number of factors at play here. Like, demographics, cultural background (different exposures & different allergy rates in general I would guess), genetic susceptibilities, individual lifestyles (e.g smoking) and probably a lot more! Even a sample size of 1000 seems pretty small to test for general human allergy rates to moon dust. If you were talking about just one population of humans, e.g. the US, you would certainly need more than 30 but maybe not 1000.

[–] MonkderDritte@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago