Was water brought to Earth on comets?

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wolram
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This article has a different spin on how water came to Earth.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...st-have-arrived-here-earlier-than-we-thought/

The arrival of water on our planet wasn’t a last-minute job.

Water came to Earth on icy comets after most of the planet and its core were formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, according to a leading theory.

But now an analysis of isotopes from meteorites born earlier, when the solar system was formed, seems to imply that the wet stuff got here much sooner.
 
Earth sciences news on Phys.org
wolram said:
This article has a different spin on how water came to Earth.

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...st-have-arrived-here-earlier-than-we-thought/

The arrival of water on our planet wasn’t a last-minute job.

Water came to Earth on icy comets after most of the planet and its core were formed, about 4.5 billion years ago, according to a leading theory.

But now an analysis of isotopes from meteorites born earlier, when the solar system was formed, seems to imply that the wet stuff got here much sooner.

I believe they're talking about: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6209/623

I think at this point it's safe to say most of the water on Earth was here during formation and not brought in by icy bodies at a later date.
 
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I find it amusing that some people try to dismiss the idea that water, or even life, formed on Earth by proposing that it must have arrived via comets or meteorites. This then poses the problem of "How did the water, or life, get onto these comets/meteorites to start with?". It is similar to attributing the creation of Earth to a being, who must have had a creator before itself, and so on, or had always existed independently of the universe..

This appears to be the way natural phenomena were explained by those who did not know or understand the science involved..
 
Hydrogen and oxygen are the first and third most abundant elements in the universe, so water is ubiquitous. So I'm sure the answer to the question of, "Was water present when the Earth was formed, or was it brought here by comets?", is, "Both."
 
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Chestermiller said:
In your judgment, which was more?

I don't know, but since most of the mass came from the initial formation, I would think most of the water also came from the initial formation.
 
Thank you for your replies.