Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Not so Rare Earths?

re: Not so Rare Earths?
Andrew — (archived)

This is great as far as it goes, but there must be lot more parameters at work. What happens if there are two, or three gas planets moving inwards at the same time (or even sequentially). How often will there be planet-melting collisions that will drive off the water? Does the water evaporate to form steam worlds with rocky surfaces, and how fast is the water broken down by radiation, how fast does the radiation blow the steam into space?

“Dolphins, fish, squid, seaweed, green slime aplenty, but no radios, rockets, or computers. (IMHO).”

Yes, but for most of the last 4.5 billion years you wouldn’t have got an intelligent conversation if you had landed on Earth either, the odd bacteria for about 2.5 billion years, the occasional millipede about 320 million years ago, then a few amphibians and so on. Evolving life is the easy part. (And to be very picky, dolphins won’t evolve on a water world, their proximal ancestors were land-living animals that returned to the oceans).

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