Out of all the planets in the solar system,why did life develop on Earth?I've heard o f something called the goldilocks orbit,which extends from Venus to Mars.So why didn't life evolve on those planets?
2006-09-08 12:17:30 · 11 answers · asked by That one guy 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I admire your question:
See, You need 3 major elements to establish life:
1. Energy
2. Water
3. Organic material "Carbon elements"
The earth happen to be at the right distance to the sun, hence excellent energy source.
The earth happen to have liquid water running in huge amounts in rivers, seas and oceans which is very essential for biological activities and so.
The earth happen to have organic material that through evolution grown and developed into mutliple shapes and forms, plants .. animals and humans.
We are not quite sure if life exists somewhere else or not, but I tell you if these 3 elements co-exist together, with the right gravity and atmosphere. Then life can form, and it can form in different shapes and different beings.
Hope that helps ;)
2006-09-08 13:09:41 · answer #1 · answered by Duda .. 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If, instead of earth, we had developed on Mars from silicone instead of carbon, we would be asking the same question. And people would be answering that Venus is too cold and Earth has a corrosive oxygen laced atmosphere.
The simple fact is that we weren't dropped off here and Earth and it just coincidentally turned out to be a pretty decent environment for us - we evolved to fit the environment.
On a different note, if the astronomers decide that Earth is no longer a planet, does that mean we'll all have to leave?
2006-09-08 12:34:31 · answer #2 · answered by LeAnne 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Earth is just in the right orbit to have liquid water on its surface, is orbiting a G2 type main sequence star and has a large moon to help it contain its atmosphere and get life onto land quickly (through tides). All of these are beneficial for the development of life. Its gravity might have been better off lower, and having so much lava inside isn't very good for life, but those are relatively minor issues.
2006-09-08 12:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Preface: There are so many variables in organic chemistry, and in particular life chemistry that anybodies 2 paragraph answer will be quite incomplete. Also to date our only laboratories to do extensive studies of life are on the Earth, and this lack of comparison may make me prejudice to the idea of life developing more readily on a planet similar to Earth.
Now with all that said...
Life seems to require water, and it is probably helpful if there is a lot of it in liquid form. Personally I would not be surprised if we find some prokaryotic life forms in the solar system, but complicated life seems to also need more than just water. Complicated life needs a lot of time within a large enough and hospitable enough space to allow competitive genetic processes to occur.
2006-09-08 12:37:50 · answer #4 · answered by drmanjo2010 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because Earth is in the perfect universal coordinates to allow life. Just the right amount of sunlight and organic compounds. The other planets are too close or too far away from the sun to allow life to develop.
2006-09-08 12:21:46 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Venus and Mars may have once been habitable. Unfortunately, much of Mars's atmosphere and moisture were blown away in the distant past. Venus has the opposite problem. Thick clouds trap in heat, so the planet is much to hot to support any life that we know of.
2006-09-08 12:24:05 · answer #6 · answered by The Ry-Guy 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
We have no proof that there is only life on earth. In fact there is proof of life from rocks brought back from our space program. And we have not investigated even our nearby planets thoroughly.
It would be very strange if we discovered NO life on other planets. And recent discoveries of rocks from the asteroid belt are proving to be most interesting.
2006-09-08 12:23:25 · answer #7 · answered by keywestbeaner 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The conditions on Earth happen to be condusive to life, unlike Venus or Mars.
2006-09-08 12:23:33 · answer #8 · answered by msi_cord 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
no body really knows, mabe because we have the perfect temp. for life to form. mabe venus is to hot, and not enough crabon to form a large mass there to survive. and mabe mars dosen't have much oven an atmosphere to keep a liveing being larger then a single celled orginisam alive.
2006-09-08 12:27:18 · answer #9 · answered by u2crazy4meh 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
to quote the R&S section, "God did it", to quote me, because if it didnt we wouldnt be here to wonder about it. pretty much its because the orbit is just right as in goldilocks, there was water, and some other reasons that i dont know
2006-09-08 12:21:07 · answer #10 · answered by Jake S 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋