Clarify the outcomes of high-velocity liquid-silicate collisions

Characterize the physical outcomes of high-velocity collisions involving liquid silicates, including the production, evolution, and escape of molten ejecta that become chondrules.

Background

The proposed mechanism depends on repeated high-velocity impacts between debris dust, planetesimal surfaces, primary ejecta, and secondary cloud particles. These impacts are assumed to generate molten silicate particles that cool into chondrules.

The authors identify the impact physics of liquid silicates as insufficiently understood and propose laboratory experiments to constrain the relevant processes and improve the dust-cloud model.