^ Museum OfTlieSolar System Museum Of The Solar System is a film of one of the great adventures in science: the analysis of the moon rocks and soil brought to Earth by the Apollo voyagers. A film crew visited the laboratories of seven lunar scientists to learn how they sought answers to lunar mysteries: how old is the moon; what elements are in it: where did it come from; what was the history of the sun; what are the moon's minerals. By showing how the work was done, this film gives an unusual insight into the methods of modern science. Questions
In the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, Dr. Paul Gast of Columbia University (on leave to NASA) describes the anxieties of scientists as moon materials arrived. Would they resemble earth rocks? Or meteorites? Or would they be truly unique? Would they unfold a missing chapter in the Earth's history?
Tracks of Time
"I want the moon to be an interesting place," says Dr. Harold C. Urey of the University of California at San Diego. The moon may bear the record of how our Earth and our sun were formed. "And the sun is only one of many, many stars. And if we understand what its history was, we will understand the history of many stars and how they came about and where they go."
Ages
Lunatic I ticked off the ages of the rocks. Standing in the "lunatic asylum" at the California Institute of Technology, Dr. G. J. Wasserburg describes the unique talents of Lunatic I and meaning of the great ages of the lunar rocks.
Elements
Thesurfaceofthemoon ischurned and stirred by a ceaseless bombardment from space. The record of that bombardment, seen in the tracks of time uncovered by Dr. Robert L. Fleischer of General Electric, reveals what happened at the surface of the moon before visitors came.
A nuclear reactor is applied by Dr. George H. Morrison of Cornell University to the identification of elements in lunar materials. These elements are "chemical indicators" to the past history of the moon, and will helpfind its origin.
Museum Of The Solar System, a unique film on lunar science by the American Chemical Society.
16mm color / 23 minutes Costs: Print $250 / Rental $25 Pre-purchase, free previews available
Sun
The history of the sun lies in the surface of the moon. That history is being uncovered by Dr. James R. Arnold of the University of California at San Diego. Sun-created materials pulled from lunar materials enable scientists to learn what the sun was doing before any man ever saw it.
Minerals
The minerals of the moon tell a story of hot liquids that crystallized and hardened billions of years ago. These minerals have been identified by highly sensitive instruments used in the laboratory of Dr. John A. Wood of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Order from:
Stuart Finley, Inc. 3428 Mansfield Road Falls Church, Va. 22041 (703} 820-7700
MARCH 13, 1972 C&EN
31
