Life on earth uses water as a life source what are the other options for life we don’t know

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Some scientists have theorized that liquid methane or ammonia could support life under certain conditions. However, as of now, water is the only known solvent that supports the kind of complex biochemistry found on Earth. 

Some other alternatives to water include:

  • Ammonia A polar molecule and cosmically abundant. Some planetary scientists have suggested that on certain very cold planetary bodies liquid ammonia might serve in place of water to incubate life. 
  • Methane and ethane Non-polar hydrocarbon solvents that are known to exist in liquid form on the surface of Titan. 
  • Supercritical carbon dioxide Can act as a solvent, and in some instances it even makes for a better solvent than water. Other solvents that have been speculated about include:
    • Liquid methane and nitrogen 
    • Ammonia-water mixtures 
    • Supercritical fluids 

Carbon dioxide is quite common. The atmospheres of both Mars and Venus are composed mostly of CO2, and it is likely that most rocky exoplanets are rich in carbon dioxide. It isn’t a solvent in its gaseous state, so life on warm planets such as Earth would rely upon it

There is a vast menagerie of potentially habitable worlds in the cosmos, which means the Universe could be home to a diversity of life beyond what we can imagine. Creatures built on silicon rather than carbon, or organisms that breathe hydrogen instead of oxygen. But regardless of how strange and wondrous alien life may be, it is still governed by the same chemistry as life on Earth, and that means it needs a chemical solvent

On Earth that solvent is water (H2O). Water dissolves some molecules into solution, giving organisms access to a range of materials. Since it is a liquid, water also makes it easy for complex molecules to mix together and interact

Some other alternatives to water as a solvent include:

  • Ammonia Ammonia is essential for life, as it’s required for the formation of amino acids and nucleic acids. However, ammonia is toxic, so nature uses carriers for it. 
  • Methane-ethane A mixture of methane and ethane could be the primary solvent for methane-based life. Methane alone has a narrow range of temperatures at which it’s a liquid, but the two substances together create a fluid with a more useful range. 
  • Formamide Formamide is a potential alternative to water as a solvent for supporting life and biochemical reactions. 
  • Hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen fluoride is a potential alternative to water as a solvent for supporting life and biochemical reactions. 
  • Concentrated sulfuric acid Concentrated sulfuric acid could be used as a solvent for life, but it would require different chemistry from terrestrial life. 

Water is not carbon-based. The water molecule is made of hydrogen and oxygen, and does not contain carbon atoms. However, carbon is an important component of water’s pH balance and plays a role in its ability to support aquatic life. 

Carbon is found in every living organism and forms the basis for all organic molecules. Organisms use carbon-based molecules to produce water through a process called cellular respiration. 

Liquid water is essential for carbon-based life. Chemical bonding of carbon molecules requires liquid water

Some scientists have suggested that life could exist without carbon. For example, silicon is considered a possible alternative to carbon-based life. Silicon has similar chemical properties to carbon and can produce large molecules that contain biological information. 

Other hypothetical non-carbon-based life forms include:

  • Phosphorus-based life: This is a remote possibility for extraterrestrial life. 
  • Germanium-based life: This is unlikely because germanium is rare and not very soluble in most solvents. Some say that life on Earth is based on carbon because each carbon atom can form bonds with up to four other atoms at the same time. Carbon is also versatile chemically, forming long chains and branches with itself and other atoms. However, a recent study suggests that self-sustaining chemical reactions could support biology on other planets using elements other than carbon

Some scientists have suggested that nitrogen could be an alternative to carbon as the basis of life. Nitrogen can form long chains at low temperatures with a liquid solvent like ammonia or hydrogen cyanide. However, nitrogen-based life forms are considered highly improbable.

While life based on liquid ammonia is a possibility, it has some significant problems. For example, ammonia is flammable in oxygen and can’t exist in an environment suitable for aerobic metabolism. It also doesn’t self-shield against ultraviolet light. 

Ammonia condenses to a liquid at a pressure equivalent to 12.1 thousand Earth atmospheres at around 37 degrees Celsius. However, we haven’t discovered or hypothesized a way for a planet to have such a dense atmosphere. 

Life forms that use ammonia as a solvent and breathe hydrogen would be different from life on Earth. They would likely have unique adaptations to survive and thrive in those conditions

Life forms that use ammonia as a solvent and breathe hydrogen would be significantly different from the life forms we are familiar with on Earth. Since such life would exist in a completely different environment, they would likely have unique adaptations to survive and thrive in those conditions

As of now, there are no other known substances that have properties similar enough to water to be a replacement for it for life on Earth

Water is known as the “universal solvent” because it can dissolve more substances than any other liquid. This is important to every living thing on Earth. 

Some other solvents include:

  • Ethanol: A versatile organic compound that forms miscible mixtures with water and several other organic solvents. 
  • Benzene: Used as an industrial solvent in paints, varnishes, gasoline, and more. 
  • Carbon tetrachloride: Used to dissolve fats, oils, and iodine. Some other alternatives to water as a solvent include: Formamide, Hydrogen fluoride, Sulfuric acid.

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