Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Renew Now, Pay Later
Sharing Google Activities
2 min.
Setting Up Student View
Exploring Your Issue
Using Text to Speech
Join Our Facebook Group!
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Science World magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Missing Iron Mystery
COLDMOON PHOTOPROJECT/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Compared to other rocky planets in our solar system, Earth is missing something. Some parts of its crust, or outer layer, have a lot less iron (Fe) than expected. A new study suggests the element may have been stolen. The likely culprit: a sparkly red mineral called garnet.
Scientists think garnet absorbs iron atoms—the smallest unit of an element—as the mineral forms in magma pools deep underground. Mystery solved? More work is needed to say for sure, says Ming Tang, a geochemist at Rice University in Texas who ran the recent study. “There is always uncertainty in science,” he adds. “That’s part of the fun.”
RELATED CONTENT