• Question: Hello scientist, Do you know how water is extracted from rocks?

    Asked by superstaramy to Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 24 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 24 Jun 2012:

      Hi. A very interesting question and a topic I know nothing of I’m afraid. However, intrigued by it, I have had a little look to see if I can find the answer. It seems that there isn’t really a useful method for extracting water from rocks. But, NASA have been working on it for quite some time. Although they don’t appear to have the answer just yet, they are attempting experiments to extract the water from moon rocks, based on heat, but much more complex. You can read more about it here if you’d like:
      http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2009/09-083.html
      Sorry I can’t be more help

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      Maybe if the rocks contained water inside of them, it would be a simple process of cracking the rock and drying it out while collecting the water, perhaps by evaporation and condensation!

      Supposedly, microwaves can be used to extract water from rocks! You could shoot microwaves at rocks to create hot water vapors, and then collect those vapors on cold plates as ice… then you collect the ice which eventually turns to water! Researchers are using this approach to see if they can collect water from moon rocks!

      “Research conducted by material scientists may lead to the ability to extract water from the Moon and possibly Mars by shooting microwave beams into their surface, according to Bill Kaukler, an Associate Research Professor in the Center for Materials Research at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.”

      http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081017091230.htm

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