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  • Is life on earth because Ice floats on Water and Water Vapor floats in air?

    Ramani Aswath

    Member

    Updated: Oct 26, 2024
    Views: 1.5K
    Water is anomalous in that ice has a lower density than liquid water and water vapor floats in air.
    If like other materials solid water had been heavier, all water bodies could freeze fully killing all larger life forms. Likewise rain is possible because water vapor rises as clouds and deliver water at various places. Water based life is possible becuase of these phenomena.
    The question is whether this is by design of a Creator (God or what you will) or a happenstance?
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  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Oct 16, 2014

    Interesting topic! Maybe it's all because of the basic characteristics of majority of the solid, liquid and gases?
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  • Ramani Aswath

    Member • Oct 16, 2014

    Kaustubh Katdare
    Interesting topic! Maybe it's all because of the basic characteristics of majority of the solid, liquid and gases?
    Almost all solids are denser than their liquid form and so will sink. Water is the opposite.
    Likewise most liquids at ambient temperatures have vapors that are denser than air. Again water is anomalous.
    But for this behaviour of ice and water vapor life of the present kind would not have evolved on earth.
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 17, 2014

    Absolutely a coincidence. Or maybe because life on earth is water progenited, we happen to give so much importance to this anomaly.

    Mercury has frozen ice on the poles, Maven has detected water vapor in the atmosphere. No life there (as of today). If we were having this conversation on Titan, I think we would say that life is possible there only because of Alkane seas exist on the surface. We would have made Methane and Ethane the center of our chemical existence.

    Although, the points you made make sense, if ice would have been a normal solid, sinking to the bottom, thermal insulation for the water mass underneath would be impossible. But that does not mean the whole water mass on earth would freeze, we have equatorial regions where the water would not come close to freezing.

    Water vapor on the other hand, is no special. It has phase properties consistent with other compounds.
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  • Ramani Aswath

    Member • Oct 17, 2014

    Shashank Moghe
    Water vapor on the other hand, is no special. It has phase properties consistent with other compounds.
    Not exactly. It is one molecule whose molecular weight of 18 makes the vapour much lighter than air. Water vapour filled balloons have better lift than hot air balloons.
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 17, 2014

    Well as much as that is true, what I meant was that there is no anomalous phase related behavior like that in case of ice. It sure goes buoyant in air, but so would methane, had we been living on Titan.
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  • Garvit Garg

    Member • Oct 20, 2014

    Almost everything that happens on earth is the reason of life possible here....life would have never been possible on polar places if the 4'C density of water would be having no different behavior than other liquids.....and if it would have been different than i feel that evolution of living creatures would have been different accordingly....same applies to if we were of titan....
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 20, 2014

    As I said, we have a biocentric view of this universe. I would be a better judge of human evolution if I were a lifeless rock flying in space. We tend to feel special, because we exist.
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  • Garvit Garg

    Member • Oct 20, 2014

    Shashank Moghe
    If we were having this conversation on Titan, I think we would say that life is possible there only because of Alkane seas exist on the surface. We would have made Methane and Ethane the center of our chemical existence.
    we are having same point of view i guess.....by evolution i meant same thing....if we were of titan than human body may have evolved to make its energy source as methane or ethane related reaction for breathing....or some other source....same point....
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  • Ramani Aswath

    Member • Oct 20, 2014

    All eart based life forms are (quite efficient thermodynamically) heat engines. There is a fuel and oxidant and a process. We have to see what sort of process can work on Titan with an essentially pure nitrogen atmosphere.
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 21, 2014

    Garvit Garg
    we are having same point of view i guess.....by evolution i meant same thing....if we were of titan than human body may have evolved to make its energy source as methane or ethane related reaction for breathing....or some other source....same point....
    Yes I said the same thing. We are on the same track.
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 21, 2014

    A.V.Ramani
    All eart based life forms are (quite efficient thermodynamically) heat engines. There is a fuel and oxidant and a process. We have to see what sort of process can work on Titan with an essentially pure nitrogen atmosphere.
    Again, a biocentric view. We would never know if a life form on Titan can be a better thermodynamic system unless we study one.
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  • Ramani Aswath

    Member • Oct 21, 2014

    Shashank Moghe
    Again, a biocentric view.
    Of course. The posts are about biological earth based life.
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  • Shashank Moghe

    Member • Oct 21, 2014

    Don't get me wrong here Sir, but the view can be universal. We are not restricted to think from inside the box. My point is, we tend to centralize everything around us and not pay heed to the possibility that "we" could have been anywhere else in the universe. Life probably exists as naturally in non-water worlds.
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