Yup, pretty much. At least, cellular life needs those things.
1 Like
As this thread is in #science , any posts in this must be based on current known science. If there isn’t concrete research backing something or something is not widely accepted by xenobiologists, it won’t be allowed in this thread.
3 Likes
i’m pretty sure the only thing possibly not accepted by most xenobiologists about
is the 614C part which is the vapor point of arsenic
1 Like
Out of curiosity and wanting to track down the source for that page, Could you link it?
I’m pretty sure that Radiosynthesis is currently planned.
Hmm, it seems it was not within Nebulas but ‘suspended in Plasma’
Nonplanetary lifeEdit
Dusty plasma-basedEdit
See also: Dusty plasma
In 2007, Vadim N. Tsytovich and colleagues proposed that lifelike behaviors could be exhibited by dust particles suspended in a plasma, under conditions that might exist in space.[90][91] Computer models showed that, when the dust became charged, the particles could self-organize into microscopic helical structures, and the authors offer “a rough sketch of a possible model of…helical grain structure reproduction”.
Not as clearly stated as I thought I remembered it being, but intriguing nonetheless.
Link to page: Hypothetical Types of Biochemistry
1 Like
I want to try to make a scenario for life to evolve on Gas Giants.
I am distinguishing Gas Giants from Ice Giants here, and I’ll be assuming the Gas Giant is in the Goldilocks zone.
Now, to be honest, I do not know enough about biochemistry to show step by step what chemical reactions would form life in a gas giant, but I do know about gas giants themselves. Gas Giants are mostly composed of hydrogen and helium, with hydrogen being an important compound for life to form.
Gas Giants also have clouds of ammonia and water, which are both important for life as well, and there’s plenty of methane too. Of course, those aren’t the only compounds. Gas Giants can have carbon, silicates, oxygen, and various alkali metals. Finally, Gas Giants are very hot, especially at the cores. In our solar system, the Gas Giants have very cool surfaces, but this shouldn’t be as much of a issue because the Gas Giant is in the habitable zone.
This means that in some places, the conditions in the clouds could be very similar to primordial earth, which is when the first life arised. Eventually organisms might appear.
Let me know if there are any issues with this.
I don’t know much about Gas Giants to be perfectly honest - other than their core, are they entirely gaseous, or do they have landmasses like rocky planets?
They’re liquid close to the core, but apart from that, yes they’re completely gaseous.
1 Like
gas giants generally have an atmosphere, an ocean, and a metallic core that would instantly become a gas at
1 atmosphere and room temp
1 Like
The ocean would become a gas, the core would stay solid since they’re made of metal
the core is made of metal that is a gaseous element when at the pressure of earth’s atmosphere so it would sublimate like dry ice
No, the “oceans” are typically composed of metallic hydrogen. The cores are composed of heavy metals like iron and nickel, just like most other planets.
Please just look it up if you don’t believe me.
1 Like
ok correction the cores of large gas giants are composed primarily of metallic hydrogen and a small part is composed of heavier elements and the cores of smaller gas giants are composed of said heavier elements
could carbon based life that uses hydrogen sulfide instead of water exist at -60C where H2S is liquid
I doubt sulfur could replace oxygen there. I’m not a biochemist, though. Also, I’m pretty sure that’s way too cold to sustain life…
there are sulfur respiring bacteria on earth and photosynthesis does not use the oxygen in water so photosynthesizers would still make glucose if they were carbon based and as long as there were lipids and RNA being made on that planet(most likely in the hydrothermal vents where the H2S can be a liquid and much warmer) life could still form and all it would take is one blob to form and in a few million years the planet would have prokaryotes like the ones before eukaryotes existed but much different and H2S is a polar molecule
if that is not what you meant then please say what you meant
Oxygen is a part of nearly every biological molecule. Though you do make a pretty good point, I agree that if they still have a source of oxygen (maybe metal oxides) that life could form.
they would likely get it from food or eating ice
I heard what some bacteria live on power lines and feed on electricity
Source? That seems quite implausible as being on a single power line means current is not running through you at all (which is why birds are safe sitting on power lines).
1 Like