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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
Mental Note...don't make Europa Landing probe out of metal...
Doh!
Key word being terrestrial. What about life forms based on silicon and sulphur (as opposed to carbon and oxygen). The theories are there, and I think we have merely begun to scratch the surface of what different kinds of 'life' may be out there.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Main Entry: 1acid
Pronunciation: 'a-s&d
Function: adjective
Etymology: French or Latin; French acide, from Latin acidus, from acEre to be sour -- more at ACET-
2 a : of, relating to, or being an acid; also : having the reactions or characteristics of an acid (acid soil) (an acid solution) b of salts and esters : derived by partial exchange of replaceable hydrogen (acid sodium carbonate NaHCO3) c : containing or involving the use of an acid (as in manufacture) d : marked by or resulting from an abnormally high concentration of acid (acid indigestion)
blarg.
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!
If anything I would say that a highly acidic environment supports the idea that life could form on Europa. If you compare Europa to the Earth model then it seems that the acidic environment was similar to the old Earth where most of the organisms were extremophiles that did not use oxygen but sulfur and other substances. Earth didn't gain much oxygen until photosynthesis took a foothold and when that happened it killed off most of the organimsms because oxygen destroys chemical reactions that aren't suitable. Also, most of the organisms that exist today are the real extremophiles since they are adapted to deal with non-acidic/cold/hot environment since the original Earth was very hostile (I doubt my wording made any sense). So I would say that the acidity supports the thought that life could exist (especially the presence of sulfur).
Then you'd have the three pillars of West Coast civilization.
Spelunkers in caves observing extremophile bacteria that were literally eating away the cave with the sulfuric acid end products of their metabolism. Their experiments were finding levels of acid were largely driven by biological processes.
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"
Isn't hydrogen peroxide a rocket fuel?
*hm....*
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Sulfuric acid found on Europa was reported as far back as 1999 when this article was published on Science@NASA based on this NASA Press release. According to the article, sulfur from volcanoes on Io, another one of Jupiter's satellites, may be responsible for the environment on Europa.
Massive by Design
What scientific illiterate modded this "insightful"?
The pH scale runs from 0 to 14, with a pH of 7 being neutral. The number is actually an inverse exponent and has to do with the concentration of hydrogen ions (H+) in solution. (You could also use pOH, relating to the concentration of hydronium ions (OH-), the relationship is pOH = 14 - pH).
-- Alastair
This assumes that the concentration is high enough to be recovered and purified using the available local energy. That may not be the case.
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
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."
It's called Catalase. It's an enzyme that is present in many living organisms and catalyzes the reaction 2H2O2 -> 2H2O + O2 . Plants have it too. In Europa, though, the reaction might be very slow unless there is a catalyst to help it.
;)
So it really depends on how you define "usable", that is, what you really want to do with that oxygen peroxide
---- Take the Space Quiz!
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.
Unless I'm mistaken, you can have two hypotheses which both fit the evidence. In the absence of further evidence, you have two valid theories (although ultimately at least one must be incorrect, or at a minimum incomplete)
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
A completely seperate _Domain_ of life, only recently delineated from bacteria an eukaryotes. Analysis of acid mine drainage sites have found these microbes living in pH -3.5, and actually actively drive down the pH themselves. See http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/archaea/archaea.html.
Jill Banfield, a Macarthur Grant recipient, has done quite a bit of work on this.
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