Did a Piece of "Quark Matter" Go Right Through the Earth?

[Jahnava Nitai Das]

Did a Piece of "Quark Matter" Go Right Through the Earth?

 

DALLAS, TEXAS, November 26, 2002: Here's a news item that will give you pause for thought: a group of researchers at Southern Methodist University have identified two seismic events that they think provide the first evidence of a previously undetected form of matter blasting its way right through the Earth. They can't prove that this was the strange "quark matter," but it is the only explanation offered so far. The so-called strange quark matter is so dense that a piece the size of a human cell would weigh a ton. The two events under study both took place in 1993. The first event was recorded at seven monitoring stations in India, Australia, Bolivia and Turkey, and the second event was recorded at nine monitoring stations in Australia and Bolivia. The first event occurred on October 22, 1993, when something entered the Earth off Antarctica and left it south of India .73 of a second later. The other occurred on November 24, 1993, when an object entered south of Australia and exited the Earth near Antarctica .15 of a second later.