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When searching for extra-terrestrial life, why do we assume that it can only be based on organic chemistry? Wouldn't it be possible to have life that is not ba

When searching for extra-terrestrial life, why do we assume that it can only be based on organic chemistry? Wouldn't it be possible to have life that is not based on carbon, water, etc..?

gameswithgo 6y ago
carbon is unique among elements in the number of molecules it can form. silicon is a distant second and everything else is pretty much a non starter. water is less of a requirement but you need some kind of liquid for the reactions to occur in and their arent many candidate liquids at plausible temperatures
- DoctorOetker 6y ago
  hogwash stability is not a strict function of molecular structure and atomic composition, it is also a function of environmental factors like temperature, pressure, acidity, ... The reason many of those inorganic polymers on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inorganic_polymer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inorganic_polymer have a dangling string of "unprocessable" attached is because they're simply reactive with other chemical species (organic or inorganic) in our biosphere, or simply less or unstable at our earthly standard conditions... if humanity does ever make contact with alien species, we might get tempted to invite them in our Czochralsky crucible if they are rare enough, and vice versa
x3n0ph3n3 6y ago
Possible? Yes. Likely? No, especially given that most of the solar system is composed of material in similar quantities. It's possible we could find different forms of life-producing chemistry in star systems with different proportions of elements.
samsari 6y ago
We assume that because literally all of the life we have ever observed is based on organic chemistry.
carterklein13 6y ago
I think this question begets the question of how we even classify life that isn't based on Earth's organic chemistry. If we only have one frame of reference for "life," how can we possibly classify or even recognize another that is entirely unlike anything we've yet discovered.

When searching for extra-terrestrial life, why do we assume that it can only be based on organic chemistry? Wouldn't it be possible to have life that is not based on carbon, water, etc..?

gameswithgo 6y ago

carbon is unique among elements in the number of molecules it can form. silicon is a distant second and everything else is pretty much a non starter. water is less of a requirement but you need some kind of liquid for the reactions to occur in and their arent many candidate liquids at plausible temperatures

DoctorOetker 6y ago
hogwash stability is not a strict function of molecular structure and atomic composition, it is also a function of environmental factors like temperature, pressure, acidity, ... The reason many of those inorganic polymers on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inorganic_polymer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inorganic_polymer have a dangling string of "unprocessable" attached is because they're simply reactive with other chemical species (organic or inorganic) in our biosphere, or simply less or unstable at our earthly standard conditions... if humanity does ever make contact with alien species, we might get tempted to invite them in our Czochralsky crucible if they are rare enough, and vice versa

x3n0ph3n3 6y ago

Possible? Yes. Likely? No, especially given that most of the solar system is composed of material in similar quantities. It's possible we could find different forms of life-producing chemistry in star systems with different proportions of elements.

samsari 6y ago

We assume that because literally all of the life we have ever observed is based on organic chemistry.

carterklein13 6y ago

I think this question begets the question of how we even classify life that isn't based on Earth's organic chemistry. If we only have one frame of reference for "life," how can we possibly classify or even recognize another that is entirely unlike anything we've yet discovered.