Assignment 1 SCIE 1060: Report on the Origin of Water in Biology

This report delves into the scientific understanding of water's origin, examining the collision of celestial bodies like asteroids and comets as primary sources. It explores the sublimation of ice in comets, the formation of water gas, and the role of planetesimals in the early Earth's composition. The report discusses the debate between comets and asteroids as water providers, the characteristics of different comet types, and the use of deuterium-to-hydrogen ratios to trace water's origin. It highlights the presence of water on various planets and moons, as well as the research correlating the D/H ratio to terrestrial water. The conclusion summarizes the theories and ongoing research in this area of biology.

Running Head: ORIGIN OF WATER
BIOLOGY
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Origin of Water
Water refers to a compound that is made up of hydrogen atoms syndicated with oxygen
atoms. Scientists have tried to explain the origin of water through some theories. Water is said to
have been formed from the collision of heavenly bodies between asteroids and comets. Scientists
try to explain that as the comet approached the sun the ice in it sublimed, due hotness of the sun,
resulting in the formation of an atmosphere of water gas.
The earth is a planet that consists of bodies such as rivers, oceans, and rainforests. It is
said that the earth could have been formed through the collision of minute outer space bodies
referred to as planetesimals (Dariusz , et al., 2019). These bodies were poor in water and so the
water on earth is said to have been brought by asteroids or comets.
Many years have passed as researchers debate on if comets or asteroids provided H2O.
Comets are said to have originated beyond the Neptune’s orbit and they were seen to be deep
storage deposits of the solar system (Dariusz , et al., 2019). They have a lot of ice that is said to
been locked away within the center ever since the creation of the solar system. The earth is said
to have been thrashed with comets thus conveying a lot of water to occupy the oceans.
According to research different varieties of comets are said to have existed. They are
found to have exhibited as terrestrial water and belonged to the category of hyperactive comets
which upon drawing closer to the sun they produce a lot of water more than what the surface area
of the nucleus is supposed to allow (Dariusz , et al., 2019). The ice-rich particles in the
atmosphere are the ones that allow excess water to be produced.
Scholars have extensively utilized the comparative quantity of deuterium to contrast it by
hydrogen to enable them trace water back to its origin (Dariusz , et al., 2019). At low levels of
hotness, the deuterium freezes to put in an appearance of ice more regularly. Therefore those

ORIGIN OF WATER 3
bodies that are formed in the solar structure such as comets are rich in deuterium while the water
gas that is churned around the earth should possess little or none of it.
Along with planet Earth, a couple of planets and a number of moons have shown
evidence of water existing in different forms (Dariusz , et al., 2019). Researchers determined the
portion of the nucleus surface area needed for the production of the quantity of water in the
environment of all comets using D/H and thus, the D/H ratio is the same as terrestrial water.
Conclusion
Scientists have explained the origin of water through theories and many debates have
been carried out to explain more about that. If true then water is said to have been formed during
the time the solar system was formed. Some planets have shown also evidence that water existed
in different forms.

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References
Dariusz , C., Lis, D. B., Rolf , G., Nicolas , B., Jürgen , S., Yan , D., et al. (2019). Terrestrial
deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio in water in hyperactive comets. Astronomy & Astrophysics,
10(1), 625.