1)Jake Leibeck

9-26-09
Chem I, 3rd

A. The article discusses findings of small amounts of water on the moon’s surface.
B. This article relates to chemistry in that it discusses the Sun’s Solar winds hydrogen
bonding with the moon’s surface oxygen and forming water.

4.) This article discussed in length the discovery of what was once thought to be entirely
myth-- Water on the moon. Reports from spacecrafts show evidence that approx. a quart
of water may be in each ton of soil-- which reinvigorates the argument for moon
colonization. The article then goes on to discuss NASA’s LCROSS and Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecrafts, and their intrigue to plan to strike one of the many
deep, dark craters of the moon (CABEUS-A) and examine the debris, which according to
scientific hypothesis, contains frozen water isolated from the consistent bombardment of
comets.

Alternatively, and more so related to Chemistry, new reports insist that these craters may
only reveal stored Lunar water. Another team (Ironically led by a woman named Jessica
Sunshine) proposes that Solar winds account for much of the surface water on the moon
with the addition of H+. They believe that the Solar Winds and pocketed H+ strike the
moons surface, releasing oxygen atoms bound to minerals in the soil, forming HO•, which
then, accordingly, can easily form H2O. As the temperature of the surface is heated, the
more water molecules are released.

Many of these observations and theories rose from the use of new instruments on the
moon’s surface-- making it “possible to map the lunar hydrogen content on the surface as
never before,”-- a quote by James Green, who is the director of the Planetary Science
Division at NASA headquarters, during an important press conference regarding these
discoveries.

Soon, other quotes of that magnificence began to appear in abundance: An notorious

astronomy professor at the University of Hawaii, Paul G. Lucey, is noted as commenting
on these new observations-- “Perhaps the most valuable result of these new observations
is that they prompt a critical reexamination of the notion that the moon is dry,… It is
not”. The Lack of contractions shows off his serious demeanor.

The Article concludes with the subtle reminder the water on the moon does imply nearly
as much as there is on earth (i.e. lakes, oceans, rivers), but rather just small, trace
amounts on the top millimeters of the moon’s surface.

5.) I believe this article affects my generation and future generations greatly. The idea of
Moon colonization has long been on the list of Space Age dreams, along with flying cars.
As we learn more and more about the moon’s conditions, we can begin to ponder more
into life on the moon, as has been discussed since the days of Cyrano de Bergerac. This
also marks a milestone in astronomical belief akin to the days of Ptolemaic theory--the
long belief that the moon is dry.

2.)Wilson, Elizabeth K. Moon’s Surface Holds Water. 2009. 26 Sept. 2009

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