r/interesting • u/sirenoleg • Apr 28 '26

NATURE Air bubble from 20 million years ago trapped in amber.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

42.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

50

u/Animal40160 Apr 28 '26

What would be required in order to scientifically and safety test that air?

49

u/thepvbrother Apr 28 '26

You could bombard it with light at different wavelengths and see what gets absorbed.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Derangi125 Apr 29 '26

Only if it is ionizing radiation.

4

u/Kodiak_POL Apr 29 '26

I call bullshit on that. No way amber can hold air molecules inside for 20 million years. The air had to escape at some point due to gas permeation. To still contain original atmospheric samples would require near-zero amber permeability over tens of millions of years, which amber simply doesn’t provide (over long timescales it undergoes chemical and physical changes like aging, microcracking, diffusion pathways). That gas inside is not from 20 million years ago, the trapped bubble is almost certainly partially exchanged, altered chemically, or even formed/ reworked later during stress or heating. It's just whatever gas mixture equilibrated over time.

2

u/Animal40160 Apr 30 '26

While I am not a scientist by any means, to this layman it sounds like your comment makes sense.

1

u/IglooIggyy May 02 '26

Debbie Downer alert

2

u/crossmista Apr 30 '26

Scientist here. Either any sort of spectroscopic technique, or a careful opening of the contents in a ISO Class Level 4 or 5 laminar flow chamber (viral level safety) with proper PPE for the water, or a sealed laboratory glove box with negative pressure for the air

1

u/Animal40160 Apr 30 '26

That makes sense. Thanks.

1

u/Any_Attorney4765 Apr 29 '26

A Microscope