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What is the moon made of?

Updated: 8/9/2023
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8y ago

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The moon, our neighbor in space and the earth's only natural satellite, is basically made of rock. There is a bit more to this, but that's the bottom line.

The moon is composed of rock and soil, not unlike earth. And there are some similarities. But the nature of the rocks and soil over the moon isn't that well documented. We only have a few samples, and this limited supply of stuff to study originated in only a few areas - those where we landed to investigate. It isn't like we have samples from all over, as there were only a few missions to the lunar surface.

Samples of lunar soil have revealed that it is composed of the following:

42% oxygen

21% silicon

13% iron

8% calcium

7% aluminium

6% magnesium

3% other elements

The moon was formed by dust and rock that joined together to make a dustball. The dustball started to orbit around sun like any other planet but for some reason got sucked into earth's gravity and became our moon. Some scientists believe that the moon was created via a collision of another celestial body with the earth. As a result the moon's composition is similar to that of the earth's mantle.

The large size of our moon in relation to the planet is one reason for the hypothesis of collision. It is believed that the moon may have a very tiny solid iron core like earth inner core (but no liquid iron outer core).

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8y ago
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12y ago

the moon does not have a atmosphere, its mass is to low to make a gravitational field able to hold gaseous atoms or molecules. radon and helium have been understood that they are on the moon, but cant support it to make a atmosphere, so they leave quickly.

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6y ago

The Earth's Moon has no atmosphere. Its mass is too small to produce a gravitational field capable of retaining gaseous atoms or molecules.

The moon does not have an atmosphere as is generally understood but gases such as radon and helium have been detected on the moon in very very small quantities. They usually escape the moons gravity fairly quickly and so cannot build up to form a permanent atmosphere.
To construct your own detailed breakdown of the composition of the moon's atmosphere,

list any number of gases, compounds, or other substances you choose. Then, next to

each item on your list, write "Zero percent".

The moon has no atmosphere.

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14y ago

the moons mantle is made up of dense rock and probably has a lot of silica, magnesium, and iron. The lower mantle may even be a little bit molten. funny...last time i came here it said gummie bears...

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12y ago

The Moon's atmosphere is minuscule, but what there is of it is mainly noble gases.

I really can't emphasize strongly enough how little atmosphere the Moon has; it's maybe a trillionth of Earth's atmospheric pressure at sea level and is only distinguishable from a vacuum by means of highly sensitive instruments.

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11y ago

To construct your own detailed breakdown of the composition of the moon's atmosphere,

list any number of gases, compounds, or other substances you choose. Then, next to

each item on your list, write "Zero percent".

The moon has no atmosphere.

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15y ago

Earth's moon has essentially no atmosphere.

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15y ago

oxygen, silicone, magnesium, calcium, and aluminum

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10y ago

rock, but some moons around different planets are made of other materials and may contain a large amount of an element such as iron.

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13y ago

The moon doesn't have an atmosphere.

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