A fascinating article regarding a new theory about the formation of Earth.
A fascinating article regarding a new theory about the formation of Earth.

A fascinating article regarding a new theory about the formation of Earth.

SYNESTIA
\SIN-ES-TI-Ə \ N.

A large spinning hunk of hot, vaporized rock that forms when rocky, planet-sized objects collide

Earth may have taken on a jelly doughnut shape early in its history. The rocky planet was spinning through space about 4.5 billion years ago when it smacked into a Mars-sized hunk of rotating rock called Theia, according to one theory (SN: 4/15/17, p. 18). That hit may have turned Earth into a synestia, a blob of mostly vaporized rock with an indented center, resembling a slightly squished jelly doughnut, new simulations suggest. This synestia wouldn’t have had much of a solid or liquid surface. And the structure could have spread to about 100,000 kilometers across or more, much larger than its original 13,000 kilo­meters or so. The added girth would have come from rock vaporizing and continuing to spin quickly, which would puff up and flatten the shape.

Read Article:  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/earth-might-once-have-resembled-hot-steamy-doughnut?tgt=nr