What is the Content of Lunar Soil?
As one might expect, the lunar soil (or regolith) is completely dry and airless. Before astronauts and probes visited the Moon, some scientists thought that parts of the surface might be covered in a fine layer of dust up to a mile deep, but this has seen been found to be false. The lunar soil is only about a couple of inches deep. It is covered in an extremely fine layer of dust that is electrically charged. This dust gets into everything and can be highly irritating to human skin. The composition of lunar soil is primarily oxygen, just like the Earth’s crust. Also like the Earth’s crust, the most common substance is silicon dioxide, also known as silica, the primary component of sand, glass, and concrete. Broken down by element, about 43% of lunar soil is oxygen, 21% silicon, 13% iron, 8% calcium, 6% aluminum, 5% magnesium, and 4% other elements. Other compounds found in lunar soil include titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide (alumina, a gray substance that gives the Moon much of its col
