For the giant impact hypothesis, what mass fraction was the impactor relative to the initial Mercury mass?
Answer
one-sixth of Mercury’s mass
The giant impact hypothesis offers a leading explanation for Mercury's extreme iron content, drawing parallels to theories about Earth's Moon formation. This model posits that the progenitor body, proto-Mercury, was initially much larger—perhaps 2.25 times its current mass, possessing a standard metal-to-silicate ratio common in the early solar nebula. This larger body then suffered a catastrophic collision with a massive impactor. The text specifies that this impactor was roughly one-sixth of Mercury’s mass; this violent strike effectively blasted away the majority of the lighter, rocky crust and mantle, leaving behind the dense, exposed metallic core that constitutes the bulk of the planet observed today.
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