I understand it's because life on Earth is based on water and we know how that works to a certain extent but no one ever seems to mention the possibility of alien beings being formed of some other chemical substance. Are there any substances that would be a good base chemical for a living being and has anyone ever investigated this?
2006-12-07 09:26:15 · 24 answers · asked by teaser 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You're right there is some bias here, we expect aliens to need water because everything on earth needs it to live. Science fiction authors often discuss very different life forms, however there are some restrictions. Life even if it doesnt need water as much as we do will be Carbon based - scientists have suggested other life could be Silicon based but its not just not realistic. Carbon is unique among the elements for its ability to bond with up to 4 other elements at once.
You can easily imagine some alien having acid for blood (now where have I seen that) but if its acidic wouldnt it be dangerous to organic materials? If they evolved from simpler organisms wouldnt the harsh acid dissolve them?
We look at water hoping we'll find life there because though there may be other chemical solutions that can form life we know carbon based life forms needing water to live as possible - we are them. Its just a basis for comparison and makes the search for alien life simpler. If we can find water based life we can then have a look to see if its possible to build complex, replicating molecules from anything else. regards.
2006-12-07 09:34:57 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is assumed that because the life support system here on earth requires water, (it is the only standard we know). That other planets would also need the same. But if the planets life form was anaerobic based (exclusion of air), it might also not require water to survive - anhydrous. Should one of the other planets have water, it could in all probability also support earthlings. As for other substances - I am really clueless. But I will go to say that, it will have to be a liquid in which other forms of life could be supported.
2006-12-07 09:52:13 · answer #2 · answered by God all Mighty 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
At university I did my thesis into something quite close to this. I won't repeat it all as you will be very bored and it will take me one hell of a long time to type it all out!!
Essentially I concluded that, although carbon has the best molecular structure to be the base of all lifeforms, silicone is also perfectly stable and would be able to do a similar job.
The reason that the discovery of water is quite major is so that the planet could support us living there, not aliens.
2006-12-07 09:30:43 · answer #3 · answered by mad_caesar 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A compound that ought to exist in all 3 states (as water can on earth) may nicely be an significant condition for life, even if no longer a sufficient one. besides, all of us understand there are a selection of barren, unpopulated planets close to us; yet we are in common words attentive to a component to the universe some hundred gentle years for the time of, it really is particularly tiny as a results of the truth the completed universe should be the better area of 28 *billion* LY for the time of. also, the slow emergence of complicated life from more convenient particularly a lot-life is a lot extra available than the unexpected emergence of a complicated author-god from nowhere.
2016-11-24 21:46:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are carbon-based forms of life, but other elements have been proposed as POSSIBLE to generate life. Silicon is the biggy in that category.
No one has yet come up with a way to even theoretically start life without some solvent. In our case, as you point out, that solvent is water. Ammonia, methanol, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen sulfide have all been shown to be viable alternatives.
2006-12-07 09:41:51 · answer #5 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One has to narrow down the search for life somehow. To search ever inch of a planet looking for any possible lifeform would take too much time and be too expensive. So NASA makes certain assumptions that allows them to narrow down their search to areas that are most likely to support carbon based life. That is not a bad assumption, since all life as we know it is carbon based.
2006-12-07 09:39:43 · answer #6 · answered by Randy G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"water" is the basis for life on "Earth". Perhaps on another planet in another part of the universal, a different substance serves as the basic building block for life there!
2006-12-07 10:33:41 · answer #7 · answered by BLKengineer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We know THIS planets life-forms rely on water to survive. Howver, whout knowing what, if anything else is alive out there, we assume they require the same needs as this planet to survive. Water being the most basic of needs for almost everything. Humans, mammals, plants, fish....... Just about everything needs water.
2006-12-07 09:32:58 · answer #8 · answered by Sparky 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We assume it because we (humans can't live without it). But I read some article recently that was speaking about some bacteria that was living near the centre of the earth on rocks, where they couldn't recieve water. I think that they said that they were silicon based
2006-12-07 11:23:58 · answer #9 · answered by shotgunsherriffs 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
water is the bases for life
2006-12-07 09:27:23 · answer #10 · answered by ChIkaBuEnA 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋