Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterEde
Was thinking the other day about SETI.
We are looking for rocky planets that might harbour intelligent life.
We are looking for atmospheres with the gasses of life. All well and good.
But what about metallic elements? Can we have technology "Intelligent life" without metallic elements? would we have the technology today if the Earth did not have such elements as Iron, Copper, Gold, Silicon?
Our sun provided Earth with these elements. Minor "rare" elements came from interstellar space?
So should we be narrowing our search to just stars of similar make up to our own? as a priority?
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Hi Pete,
The sun didn't provide the earth with the heavy elements, other dead stars did.
Since a fair chunk of our earth's surface went towards making our moon, and the moon in turn doesn't have much by way of those heavy elements, I wonder if inhabitants of a place similar in size to earth would have to do a hell of a lot more digging in order to get to those heavier elements. Or if there is even enough of those elements accessible near the surface crust to make technologically advanced civilisation possible.
Given the circumstances that led to the creation of the moon, I wonder if there are any earth-like planets (chemical composition wise) out there at all.
Regards,
Renato