this post was submitted on 27 May 2024
162 points (90.5% liked)

Showerthoughts

29612 readers
769 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

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?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 5 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.