this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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Science Memes

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top 34 comments
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[–] ummthatguy@lemmy.world 99 points 6 months ago
[–] JoYo@lemmy.ml 50 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] verdare@beehaw.org 12 points 6 months ago

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

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 30 points 6 months 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 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months 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 21 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Isn't moon dust just sand?

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 86 points 6 months 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 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It also reportedly smells like gunpowder.

[–] prayer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Burned or unburned? They are two distinct smells.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 6 months 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 26 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] 0110010001100010@lemmy.world 46 points 6 months ago

And 100% reason to remember the name.

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 10 points 6 months ago

All those oxides but the iron is pure? SUS.

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months 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 6 months ago
[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Jack Schmidt = Anakin confirmed.

[–] rustydomino@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

More like Jack Schmidt = Cave Johnson

[–] halvar@lemm.ee 17 points 6 months 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 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months 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 6 months ago (2 children)
[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 16 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months 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 6 months ago

Boned on bones, obviously.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Thank you so much

[–] Raxiel@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months 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.

[–] gitamar@feddit.de 15 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)
[–] Hello_Kitty_enjoyer@hexbear.net 11 points 6 months ago
[–] grubberfly@mander.xyz 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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

30? 1000?

[–] Gonzako@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)
[–] Shellbeach@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

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

[–] flora_explora@beehaw.org 0 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months 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 6 months ago