Monday, February 17, 2020

Incorrect Science "Fact"

I have a daily science fact calendar sitting on my desk at work, and I was shocked the other day to rip off the previous day's fact and see this:

Took this picture because I was shocked at what I read!
Do you see the error? The error is the part of the paragraph that says the Moon formed from an impact 100 million years ago! The leading scientific theory on the formation of the Moon is the impact of a Mars sized object very early on after the Solar System formed. But 100 million years ago is very recent in the Solar System. The Solar System is 4.6 billion years old with the Moon forming by 4.5 billion years ago.

If this science "fact" was correct, dinosaurs saw no moon in the sky!!! That's ridiculous! This means dinosaurs, that went extinct from the impact of a 5-10 mile wide object 65 million years ago, survived the impact of a Mars sized object 100 millions years ago. LOL! If they couldn't survive the impact of a 5-10 mile wide object, they certainly didn't survive an impact with a Mars sized object.

Is this daily science fact calendar intentionally misleading readers? No, I don't think so. I think it is a poorly worded sentence that meant to say the Moon was formed 100 million years after the Solar System formed. This is in the ballpark of when scientists think a large impact formed our Moon. Unfortunately it was worded such that it states the Moon formed just 100 million years ago.

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