Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1918 — Determining Age of Planets. [ARTICLE]

Determining Age of Planets.

A novel idea in estimating the physical condition of planets was put forthby M. Veronnet before the Academie des Sciences at a recent meeting in Paris. He based it upon a calculation of the quantity of water that rocks such as granite and porphyry absorb before becoming perfectly dry. He said that on the moon all water has been completely absorbed by slow diffusion as the rocks gradually cooled. Venus is still surrounded by a thick layer of vapor, while no water has yet been condensed on the surface of Mercury, this planet being still in a condition in which its geological life has not begun, and consequently no clouds, have yet formed on its surface. M. Veronnet calculates that the rocks of our earth now contain absorbed water which would cover the earth to an average depth of about 400 metres.