Origins of Water

Earth is a strange planet, unique in many ways. There is abundance of water on Earth, and all life forms are not only dependent on it, but are largely comprised of it. Tracing the theories of the formation of Sun and the Solar System, and studying the abundance of water and its type on Earth, scientists are now theorising that water on Earth predates the formation of the Solar System, has celestial origins and must have been delivered to Earth.  

Qur’an 

The Qur’an(21:30) clearly states that all living things have been created from water. Also, in several places in the Quran, it informs us that water has been sent to Earth.  

Concordance in the Quran 

The arabic word for water: مَاءً has been used in 63 verses of the Qur’an. The arabic word for sky/heaven: السَّمَاءِ occurs in 310 verses of the Qur’an. Verses 21-22 of Chapter 2 read: 

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ فِرَاشًا وَالسَّمَاءَ بِنَاءً وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجَ بِهِ مِنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ رِزْقًا لَّكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَندَادًا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

[Al-Qur’an 2:21-22, Translator: Muhammad Sarwar] People, worship your Lord who created you and those who lived before you, so that you may become pious. Worship God who has rendered the earth as a floor for you and the sky as a dome for you and has sent water down from the sky to produce fruits for your sustenance. Do not knowingly set up anything as an equal to God. 

Verses 2:164, 6:99, 8:11, 12:24, 13:17, 14:32, 15:22, 16:10, 16:65, 18:45, 20:53, 22:63, 23:18, 25:48, 27:60, 30:24, 31:10, 35:27, 39:21, 43:11 and 50:9 also state that water is sent from the sky.  

   

Water: Uniquely Unusual 

Water is a unique substance which exhibits unusual physical and chemical properties, very different from other substances on earth. Terrestrial laws do not seem to apply to it. It is a universal solvent, the solvent of life, inorganic yet essential for all known life forms; only common substance to exist in all three states in nature; and so on. Clearly, water follows some other set of laws. This, in itself, is observable evidence for any person who ponders upon this phenomenon.  

Deuterium and Heavy Water 

Deuterium is a hydrogen atom with an extra neutron. ‘When this hydrogen isotope combines with oxygen to make water, it’s actually about 10 percent heavier than the much more common form of water found everywhere around us on Earth.’ This is known as heavy water. 

Ratio of Heavy Water to Normal Water 

’On Earth, deuterated water, HDO, occurs naturally in regular water at a proportion of about 1 molecule in 3200. This means that 1 in 6400 hydrogen atoms is deuterium, which is 1 part in 3200 by weight (hydrogen weight).’ 

According to recent studies, the ratio of deuterium in water molecules in comet Hartley 2, from the Jupiter family Cloud [Kuiper Belt], is similar to that found on Earth, while its different in other bodies of the solar system. 

Deuterium to Hydrogen ratio in the Solar System: 

http://sci.esa.int/herschel/49378-the-deuterium-to-hydrogen-ratio-in-the-solar-system/

Celestial Origins of Water in the Solar System 

According to a latest study, to Identify the source of Earth’s water, the deuterium-to-hydrogen enrichments across the solar system cannot be explained through the typical solar system formation processes, and hence cannot be the sole source of the solar system’s water. Therefore, water must have a more ancient, celestial origin. 

[Few reports based on the original article in journal Science:  

https://dtm.carnegiescience.edu/news/earths-water-older-sun

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140925141226.htm 

http://rt.com/news/190832-water-earth-older-sun-system/ 
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/09/25/earths-water-is-older-than-the-sun ] 

Delivery of Water to a Planet in η Corvi System

According to another study, there is evidence of delivery of water to another planet in another solar system: ‘The best model for what is going on in the η Corvi (F2V) system is that… As part of this process, one or more of the excited KBOs was scattered onto an orbit that sent it into the inner system, where it collided with a planetary-class body at ~3 AU, releasing a large amount of thermally unprocessed, primitive ice and carbon-rich dust… This system is likely a good analogue for the LHB processes that occurred in the early Solar System at 0.6 – 0.8 Gyr after the formation of the CAIs, and is thus worthy of further detailed study in order to understand the nature of our LHB.’     

Astronomers Find Largest, Most Distant Reservoir of Water

NASA reports: Two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe. The water, equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world's ocean, surrounds a huge, feeding black hole, called a quasar, more than 12 billion light-years away.

"The environment around this quasar is very unique in that it's producing this huge mass of water," said Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It's another demonstration that water is pervasive throughout the universe, even at the very earliest times."

The Water Vapor Spectrum of APM 08279+5255: X-RAY Heating and Infrared Pumping over Hundreds of Parsecs 
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1106.4301v2.pdf 

  Last updated on: October 1, 2020