Why ET life is carbon based

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by paulsamuel, May 27, 2004.

  1. RawThinkTank Banned Banned

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    any liquid based enviornment should support life of its kind.
     
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  3. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    What about acid? Can H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> support life?

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  5. CobaltSunrise Registered Member

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    Then were are the alien biospheres in our solar system? What about Earth: why are there no silicon-based bacteria? What about Venus: why are there no sulfer-based dwarves eating rocks? Where *are* these exotic biologies you people keep talking about? Where is the precedent, or at least, where is the chemical theory? Without the scientific proof --actual or hypothetical-- it's not *science* at all, but mysticism. "I might be able to make up an argument for non-carbon based life" is not an argument.
     
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  7. RawThinkTank Banned Banned

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    Any environment with liquid can support life. There should be many other chemical reactions possible in the liquid to support complex random permutations and combinations of molecules. Over time the natural rules of propagation and fittest shall survive will do the rest, we now know this due to successes in artificial life.

    And yes this life will be complete different than what is in Ur imaginations.
     
  8. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

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    Funny you should ask, it can indeed. There are ecosystems in caves that live on a sulfuric acid cycle. There are bacteria that produce sufluric acid and there are bacteria that eat it. I wish I had some links, my info comes from discovery channel myself on this one.

    In fact, sulfuric acid producing and eating bacteria were some of the earliest life on the planet. They produced oxygen as a deadly waste product. They still survive in bacterial mats here and there. I'm not entirely certain about the sulfuric acid on this last one, I know that they are methane producers and I'm reasonably certain that I recall sulfuric acid being part of the mix as well.

    It is likely that life can exist almost anywhere.
     
  9. TruthSeeker Fancy Virtual Reality Monkey Valued Senior Member

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    Yeah, sure. Reminds me of when I went to a hotsprings in Nelson, in the middle of the winter. It was cool.... I mean... the weather was freezing.

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    But it was REALLY hot inside the cave I went.

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  10. Arch_Rival Registered Senior Member

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    Actually i think a sample population of 1 will give a lower bound. According to some work i've done on this subject, this may indicate the probability of (intelligent) life can be no lower than ~0.64.
     

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