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Earth’s hydrocarbons are a unique result of the evolution of life here. See the Carboniferous era.
by beowulfey 5y ago
Earth’s hydrocarbons are a unique result of the evolution of life here. See the Carboniferous era.
- StevePerkins 5y agoPlanets with confirmed life are a sample size of one. For the moment, having corporeal form is unique to life here.
- beowulfey 5y agoWell, yes, but I was just pointing out that not all life is likely to become hydrocarbons. It was kind of a fluke.
- garmaine 5y agoLife is very likely to be carbon based (what other element makes 4 bonds, as is necessary for 3D structures?). Where life is carbon-based, decaying life in the absence of oxygen produces hydrocarbons.
- hanche 5y agoThere is silicon. Some sci-fi authors have postulated silicon-based life in their stories. (It’s been too long, I don’t remember which.) As with most science fiction, how plausible that is, is a different matter altogether.
- bumby 5y agoEarths, yes, but there are hydrocarbons elsewhere that are not biological in origin. “Methane (CH4) is abundant on the giant planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—where it was the product of chemical processing of primordial solar nebula material. On Earth, though, methane is special. Of the 1,750 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) of methane in Earth’s atmosphere, 90 to 95 percent is biological in origin.”[1] [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/methane-on-mars-titan/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/methane-on-mars-t...