Abstract
ICE rains can enter the Solar System from the local interstellar medium through which the Sun is moving1 and from the release of icy grains by comets2,3. It has been argued that charged grains can be removed from the Solar System due to the Lorenz force of the solar wind4. Without considering grain charge, Patashnick and Rupprecht5,6 have predicted, by theoretical and experimental work on ice sublimation rates, that the spectral absorption properties of the particles, together with the spectral distribution of solar radiation, leads to a quasi-stable size ( ∼ 20 µm) of interplanetary ice particles, independent of solar distances. We show here that the erosion of water ice from such grains by solar energetic particles is likely to be the dominant process for determining a grain lifetime in the Solar System. Furthermore, we point out that energetic particle erosion of grain surfaces may be an important process in interstellar clouds.
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