• JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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    7 months ago

    Back up…dude with a 10th grade level understanding of biology and chemistry coming through with a question…

    So carbon-based life forms can, under the right circumstances, decompose into long chains of hydrocarbons like Petroleum.

    Does that mean silicon-based life forms under the right circumstances would break down into hydrosilicates like caulk?

    • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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      7 months ago

      I don’t know about the end result under the same extremes. I do know that silicon life, while not impossible, it’s probably unlikely. Silicon does parallel carbon in some ways including a similar location on the periodic chart (which is why it got attention from scifi writers), but the issue is simply silicon is nowhere near as “greedy” as carbon bonds.

      But it is a big universe.