Habitable Zones & Global Climate

Of Aliens And Exoplanets: Why The Search For Life, Probably, Requires The Search For Water

By Keith Cowing

April 6, 2021

Filed under habitability

Of Aliens And Exoplanets: Why The Search For Life, Probably, Requires The Search For Water — The physicochemical properties of water can be explained by the high electronegativity of oxygen, and the low electronegativity of hydrogen, which give it two dipoles capable of hydrogen bonding. The polar nature of the molecule is due to the 104.5◦ angle which forms.

It is not currently possible to create a living organism ab initio due to the overwhelming complexity of biological systems.

In fact, the origin of life mechanism, this being how biological organisms form from non-living matter, is unknown. In an attempt to better understand how abiogenesis can occur, some researchers have taken water out of their models and instead opted for more exotic approaches.

These assumptions will have strong implications for astronomical observations and potential future space exploration. By breaking down water’s properties to the physical, chemical and biological level, herewith it is demonstrated to be the most adequate medium for the formation of life.

Darius Modirrousta-Galian, Giovanni Maddalena

Comments: Accepted – JBIS: Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2104.01683 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2104.01683v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Darius Modirrousta-Galian
[v1] Sun, 4 Apr 2021 20:20:45 UTC (554 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.01683
Astrobiology

Keith Cowing

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻

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