Oh, well last time I checked, metal doesnt need oxygen to melt. I mean this in the nicest way. Plus, if the species are like axolotles, they may be able to store 02 in the primitive lungs they could evolve.
Although it may be difficult, and the requirements are large, I think its a good pay off, especially for deep sea civilizations.
The Black Smoker is a hydrothermal fluid that is so hot, it can melt metal. The fluid carries dissolved metals from deep beneath the ocean floor. When the fluids mix with the sea water, these metals combine with sulfur to form tiny black particles. These particles make the fluid look like black smoke. I got this from:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://sabrinalamms.weebly.com/hydrothermal-vents.html%23:~:text%3D%3E%20The%20Black%20Smoker%20is%20a,deep%20beneath%20the%20ocean%20floor.%26text%3DThey%20are%20found%20only%20in,surface%20to%20heat%20the%20fluids.&ved=2ahUKEwjD0erDsK7xAhXhMlkFHXDMBesQFjABegQIBBAF&usg=AOvVaw2Wh44rXRiUaQHGF53aDEXt
even if they are able to smelt metal, they wouldn’t be able to make it into a definite shape because it would cool off too quickly
The creatures would be next to a hydrothermal vent, its safe to say it wouldnt cool off quick…since its very hot around an area with vents.
To sum my oppinion of why atleast low melting point metals should be able to be shaped and made into tools by underwater civilizations, here are my statements in one post:
Tools made of tin, and lead, and various other low melting point metals could be used since tin has a low melting point of just about 450 degrees f.
Thalium reactors could be used for massive amounts of electricity
Thank you for your time.
-Nigel
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While it definitely seems that you could smelt some metals with a hydrothermal vent, it doesn’t exactly feel like it would allow for free progression in the way that other methods might. I doubt that a tinsmith would be able to make a spacecraft
I completely agree with the fact that some tech trees will be limited, but you could make reverse swimsuits to go on land, or evolve so you could last longer on land while being aquatic. By doing so, you could then get more technology.
Another edit:Carbon fiber may be an option, actually. I think you could make it underwater with the help of underwater volcanos, which could be used for rockets to unlock space travel
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https://sci-hub.do/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-41340-2
All i could find about tmep around vents.
Page 91 says max thermal anomaly is 40C Thats around 42C total.Around the vent.Also the bottom rocks most likely are hotter maybe even enough to reach 100-200C.
It would be a more streamlined progression maybe even completely streamlined,because of the limited options to get metal.
True, although Not impossible to unlock space travel.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://zoltek.com/carbon-fiber/how-is-carbon-fiber-made/%23:~:text%3DThis%20is%20accomplished%20by%20heating,rearrange%20their%20atomic%20bonding%20pattern.&ved=2ahUKEwjcntaS6q7xAhWCMlkFHVoiBa4QFjABegQIBBAF&usg=AOvVaw18Nsth8-n4TymvJltsBZsE
Here, it says to make carbon fiber you need 200 degrees celcious atleast, which is what you said @Kemikal
whoa there! that’s skipping a lot. take a minute to think, can yeti crabs or sleeper sharks get on land? NO! They can’t even get to the surface, let alone above it. (they aren’t that smart anyways and big brains might be too weak or costly to last in the deep, but i’ll ignore it for now.) and if one is stuck in the bottom of the ocean is there enough resources to make a civ? nope. maybe a small city state that farmed tube worm equivalents could last but there wouldn’t be enough surplus to advance much technologically.
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So, for building a rocket, we figured out carbon fiber may be possible, so that checks heat shields off the list, and lead or tin for the hull of the rocket. Now all we need is a thruster capable of lifting it.
It says in the air.Not in the water.But that could be fixed with some kind of forge i guess.
You could use the first metals used to get harder to get metals.Which is what humans did i guess?Harder progresssion than humans certainly,and longer.
Well, technically, if you wait for AI to progress far enough (this assumes a lot, but lets ignore this) then scraps of rockets may ink to the bottom of the ocean, if you collect enough, you could build a rocket.
Im giving underwater sentient creatures the benifit of the doubt, im not saying it would be easy to unlock space travel underwater, near impossible actually, but im saying it COULD be slightly possible.
Creatures that made reverse swimsuits and can survive arnt that farfetched, considering anything could evolve sapience in thrive.
Take the cachalot for example, it can survive in the deep ocean for quite some time, and then can go back to the surface