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Kepler D#

caters

Sage
Kepler D# is thick with volcanic gas like Venus(Which has recently been proven to still have active volcanoes) is.

I have decided that life is on this very hot planet. But there are some questions I have about this planet and life on it.

Planet questions:

1) How many active volcanoes would this planet have given that its atmosphere is thick with volcanic gas just like Venus?

2) How often would they erupt? The reason I am asking this question is because since there is life on this planet they would likely get nutrients from lava and have HCL and HF as their water.

3) Would there be any massive earthquakes(Or should I say Venus-quakes) from there being lots of active volcanoes?

4) Would the lava form bodies similar to our bodies of water(In other words lava oceans, lava lakes, lava rivers etc.)?

Life questions:

Since there is a lot of lava and lava burns through just about everything if you give it enough time how would life be able to not get burnt by lava? Porous material with very high melting point on the surface of the skin? Naturally low IR(Or heat) sensitivity?

Since HCl and HF are both very strong acids the lifeforms themselves would probably need to be acidic as well. This is because if they were slightly alkaline like us humans a violent neutralization reaction would occur(and this is why we get things from itchyness to chemical burns when acid is on our skin depending on how strong the acid is). Neutrality probably wouldn't work because in order to accomodate for there being an acid, a base would have to form and that would cause a violent neutralization reaction just like being alkaline would(This is how come if you have water, NaOH, and HCl that very quickly and violently NaCl and more water will form). But how acidic would they have to be? Would they have to be more acidic than HCl since HCl is the stronger of the 2 acids or just as acidic as HCl? Would they not have to be as acidic as HCl because of ClF, ClF3, and ClF5 forming temporarily and then Cl2 and F2 forming?
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
For me many of these questions are either unanswerable or can be answered by saying "as you want it/them to"
but I'll have a go...

#1 & #2 If it is like Venus then probably as many, and at the same size and frequently as Venus has eruptions.
#3 Maybe to Yes. but not along plate boundaries [as I don't think Venus has tectonic plates] but around hot spots and weak points. If some thing goes BANG then a lot of what around it is going to wobble...
#4 In the localised and short to medium term, then probably Yes, like they do in Hawaii and a few other places but more so. The heat loss/cooling of any open lava source would be dramatic so it would probably form a skin rather quickly unless there was a very active geological reason why not.

As for life...
If it existed it would not be life as we know and understand it currently. I think you can make up your own creatures and lifeforms. If people accept Fire breathing Dragons as real I can't see why Lava based life would be inconceivable.
We have accepted "concentrated acid for blood" as part of the Alien Franchise Xenomorph... and that exists in a far more mundane environment, our own.
 
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ascanius

Inkling
Kepler D# is thick with volcanic gas like Venus(Which has recently been proven to still have active volcanoes) is.

I have decided that life is on this very hot planet. But there are some questions I have about this planet and life on it.

Planet questions:

1) How many active volcanoes would this planet have given that its atmosphere is thick with volcanic gas just like Venus?

2) How often would they erupt? The reason I am asking this question is because since there is life on this planet they would likely get nutrients from lava and have HCL and HF as their water.

3) Would there be any massive earthquakes(Or should I say Venus-quakes) from there being lots of active volcanoes?

4) Would the lava form bodies similar to our bodies of water(In other words lava oceans, lava lakes, lava rivers etc.)?

Life questions:

Since there is a lot of lava and lava burns through just about everything if you give it enough time how would life be able to not get burnt by lava? Porous material with very high melting point on the surface of the skin? Naturally low IR(Or heat) sensitivity?

Since HCl and HF are both very strong acids the lifeforms themselves would probably need to be acidic as well. This is because if they were slightly alkaline like us humans a violent neutralization reaction would occur(and this is why we get things from itchyness to chemical burns when acid is on our skin depending on how strong the acid is). Neutrality probably wouldn't work because in order to accomodate for there being an acid, a base would have to form and that would cause a violent neutralization reaction just like being alkaline would(This is how come if you have water, NaOH, and HCl that very quickly and violently NaCl and more water will form). But how acidic would they have to be? Would they have to be more acidic than HCl since HCl is the stronger of the 2 acids or just as acidic as HCl? Would they not have to be as acidic as HCl because of ClF, ClF3, and ClF5 forming temporarily and then Cl2 and F2 forming?

4. Lava is liquid between 700 and 1200 Celsius. Your going to need a surface temp above 700 to keep it liquid, a surface temp that hot would mean no liquid HCL or HF, unless the pressure is something insane but then your most likely past the critical point(which would be really cool to have a world right at that point).

for life... your going to have to invent something, or go into the upper atmosphere where the temp and pressure is much lower and better able to support life.. Everything we know about life and biology doesn't work in such extreme conditions.

You need to review your chem. alkaline and base are the same thing they both have a pH greater than 7. They wouldn't have to be acidic, they just need a way to prevent free protons from destroying everything inside the cell. acid base pairs work through oxy-redux reactions which is the transfer of electrons, usually from base to a proton. The best bet would actually to have the pH be neutral, even better would be to somehow get water involved to act as a buffer.
Acidophile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What most acidophiles do is pump free protons outside the cell so they cannot 'steal' the elections from the internal proteins.
http://www.chem.wisc.edu/deptfiles/genchem/sstutorial/Text8/Tx83/tx83.html
 

caters

Sage
I know that alkaline and basic are the same thing but what I am saying is that being neutral would cause a base to form when an acid is added to it which is not good because then a neutralization reaction would be the major reaction and neutralization reactions especially with strong acids are violent and quick.

This would mean that being acidic is the best route.

Also since Kepler D# has a pressure 92 times our own HCl and HF are likely to be liquid or even solid at a really high temperature.
 

ascanius

Inkling
I know that alkaline and basic are the same thing but what I am saying is that being neutral would cause a base to form when an acid is added to it which is not good because then a neutralization reaction would be the major reaction and neutralization reactions especially with strong acids are violent and quick.

This would mean that being acidic is the best route.

Also since Kepler D# has a pressure 92 times our own HCl and HF are likely to be liquid or even solid at a really high temperature.

First Venus has a surface temp of above 700 C with 92 atm and H3SO4 (I'm certain HCl and HF too) is a gas at those conditions, soo...... I'm not going to do the math but I seriously doubt that they would be liquid much less solid.


as to the the acid bases your assumption is incorrect for the reasons I described. Think of it this way Acids(Most) don't neutralize water do they or the lining of your stomach or fats. your best bet is still going with neutral it allows a much wider range of possible substances, and check out those links. You just need to find the substances that don't allow a redux reaction to occur with an acid, there are many and those acidophiles are a good place to start. Usually what happens with organisms living in extremely acidic environments is the cell' external membrane is lined with neutral or weakly acidic substances while inside is for the most part relatively neutral.
 
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caters

Sage
I am assuming that their blood and cytoplasm are much more than just HCl and HF. I mean the nutrients from the lava, some of those are basic. That is why I think the acidic route is best because a weak acid(like most polyprotic acids) could surround the basic nutrients preventing HCl and HF from reacting with the basic nutrients. Sure they might react with the weak acid but the base would still be protected from the strong acids.

Also what happens when you put HCl in water? A base forms, namely chloride. This base can then accept a proton and become HCl again but this rarely ever happens, even if you have an acid dissolved in yet another acid.
 
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