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Europa's Acid Ice Fields
tr0llb4rt0 writes "The New Scientist reports on recent observations that suggest the ice on Jupiter's moon Europa may be highly acid with a pH of near zero, and have a surface layer of hydrogen peroxide.
Two theories have been put forward. One says that the acid has been formed at the surface layer from oceanic salts reacting with the intense radiation from Jupiter, the other that sulphuric acid is coming directly from the ocean, with the water reacting with sulphur produced from undersea volcanos.
Wilst reducing the chances of life on Europa, it is not ruling it out completely, as there are terrestrial extremophile bacteria which thrive in highly acid environments."
But I wouldn't want to live there. You try building a house in an acid field.
Man, are those black obelisks going to be pissed. Of course, they are several years behind schedule already, which probably didn't do much for their attitude to begin with.
www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
You can bet that if there is life on Europa, they'll most certainly be blondes :D
We should send a probe loaded with Red Devil lye to help even things out.
hydrogen peroxide...? My ears will never be full of wax again!
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Mental Note...don't make Europa Landing probe out of metal...
Doh!
Jupiter is an enemy planet
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Listen, lad. I built this kingdom up from nothing. When I started here, all there was was acid...other kings said I was daft to build a castle on an acid field, but I built it all the same, just to show 'em. It sank into the acid. So, I built a second one. That sank into the acid. So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the acid, but the fourth one... stayed up! And that's what you're gonna get, lad: the strongest castle on this planet!
Even if there is life on Europa, they'll all be eurotrash, anyway.
Then you'd have the three pillars of West Coast civilization.
I'd still like to shoot Roy Schieder into space, if it's all the same to you.
I don't understand why someone who is marginally literate would be visiting a text-based website.
Just have the probe take along bottle of Tums.
One bad monkey spoils the whole barrel.
I guess Europa's is nothing more than my girlfiend in planet form...
\\"You go hole now"
Perhaps Sir Arthur was correct.
But do you think sending a metric shitload of baking soda and red food dye counts as attempting a landing? Because I, for one, would LOVE to use Europa as a gigantic science-fair volcano.
Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such educational films as "Acid: Not just for Hippies Anymore" or "Hydrochloric Acid Dissolves all Evidence."
So there really is *no* chance of intelligent life on Europa.
www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
Wilst reducing the chances of life on Europa, it is not ruling it out completely, as there are terrestrial extremophile bacteria which thrive in highly acid environments."
Such as UC Berkeley.
"Jupiter's moon Europa may be highly acid with a pH of near zero"
Now we know why we shouldn't set up a base there.
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
Well, at least that's the theory.
KFG
Like Sweden, of course except the trees, the blue clean air, the occassional bears and elks, and all the Viktoria Silvstedt lookalikes.
And yet, oddly, there are no blondes.
--- Ban humanity.
I am no chemist, but with all the hydrogen peroxide on the surface, we just need to send an initial landing party of astronauts with lots of cuts and scabs.
As soon as the H2O2 hits the infected areas, instant oxygen and water!
A few hundred battle-scarred individuals and we'll have an inhabitable atmoshpere.
Okay, so either we're talking about Syd Barrett or H.R. Giger .
This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. This was terrible with raisins in it. - Dorothy Parker
I mean they have acid for blood, right?
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
The grandparent was making a Scientologist joke, before anyone else spends too much time thinking about this. I know no one saw Battlefield Earth, but at the end Ayn Rand uses the Stargate to lauch the nuclear bomb back up the Klingon homeworld, and the sexual energies cause a tachyon reaction in the dilithium crystals and all the the Klingons' air explodes.
Then probably some jock kid who made fun of her at the begining claps and then everybody starts clapping and they all learn the true meaning of Christmas or something. I don't really know, I scratched the end of the DVD up pretty badly with a steak knife trying to voodoo-stab L. Ron in Hell.
Isn't it rather sad ... that we've become more obsessed about life on other planets, than life on our own planet ?
Sooner or later we'll just be what we've created in the movies: A group of living things going from planet to planet stripping it of its resources.
Tell you what: when we do, you can take Ark B, m'kay?
For those who don't get the HHGttG joke: http://www.sadgeezer.com/hhg/golgaf.htm)
-Styopa
maybe it will maybe it won't, for us it's DNA, what will it be for them?
Some might disagree with me, but I'd be putting my money on some variant of struct {}.
..don't panic
What we have here is the worlds largest battery! what we need to send is lead. Instant power source for the entire planet.
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
With concentrated acid for blood... Don't look into the egg! Don't look into the egg!!!
"ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS--EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE."
/.! Damn you to helllllll!)
"SERIOUSLY. THE WHOLE PLACE IS COVERED IN ACID. WE LOST FIVE CRAFT BEFORE WE FOUND OUT."
"WE'RE JUST SAYING."
(ps - pretend this text isn't here. It's just lowercase stuff meant to get around the lameness filter so's I can tell this (admittedly lame) joke. Damn you,
Lately democracy seems to be based on the skybox, the Happy Meal box, the X-box, and the idiot box.
Well, all that acid on Europa certainly explains David Bowman's trip during Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite.
Little Johnny was a boy,
He isn't anymore,
For what he thought was H20
Was H2SO4.
If religous zealots don't believe in Evolution, then why are they so worried about bird flu?