Metallic Life forms

[imposterzill]

But what if it was a very hot planet, perhaps there would be metals that could react like certain organic substances under such heat?

[Realitycheck]

One of the hallmarks of the truly organic world is that it centers around water, the universal solvent, which is only useful within a limited temperature range.

[Daecon]

Bacteria with metallic membranes?

 

That was mentioned in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.

[imposterzill]

Well ammonia under colder temperatures behaves like water. so you could have similar solvents at different temps.

 

Now let's say there was a rather hot planet and a type of metal compound reacts with another set of compounds and they form psuedo portiens and such and after X amount of millenia you have a metallic life form. Perhaps feeding off mercy sulfide.

[FPSGeraud]

Let me say first that I already had a theory on this encoumpasing what imposterzill had mentioned.

 

I believe this thread should be about the existance of life made up of elements and compounds differing to that of our past expierences but know compounds. Lets not over-complicate the matter with random things like 4th sub-atomic particles.

 

I believe that it may be possible for life to exist or be created to exist on a hot planet like Mercury for example. This life would be made of a variety of metallic mixtures.

 

The solvent in a life-form like this would not be water for obvious reasons but at the high temperatures reached on mercury, up to 700K (427 ºC). At these temperatures element metals such as Lithium, Selenium, Tin, Polonium, Bismuth, Astatine, Thallium, Cadmium, Lead, Zinc and Tellurium are all liquids. I do not know the full properties of all these metals at these temperatures but would be willing to think that some may be able to act as solvents for others being that they are all non-polar as are all elements.

 

I do accept that their is a limited number of reactions among metals but who is to say that limited means that there is not enough. Personally I believe that if life does not exist on Mercury or other hot life that using metals at these temperature you could artificially create a life-form with simular basic principles to life forms on Earth but the life forms would have no way of living on Earth only possibly in hot locations such as in volcanos.

 

Anyway to stop my rambling, it would be nice to see more scientists investigating the claims of possible metalic life as if we can create metalic life in the labratory who says it couldn't have already happened on mercury.

[Daecon]

Isn't there theorised to be something similar, but with extremely cold temperatures?

 

Life that uses ammonia or hydrogen peroxide instead of water? I forget exactly, but life like that would theoretically be able to survive somewhere like Titan?