Re: OT-Stars and planets and such

----- Original Message -----
From: <Beth.Fulton@csiro.au>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 06, 2001 11:57 PM
Subject: RE: OT-Stars and planets and such

> G'day again,
>
> Experimental work and a good number of thought experiments suggest
> that tide locked worlds may be just great for life as they're so damn
> constant. Think about it on Earth we have fluctuating day length,
> fluctuating levels of radiation, fluctuating water levels (due to
tides),
> fluctuating seasons and climate on very short (daily) and immensely
long
> (millions of years) scales. Everything fluctuates for heavens sake!!
Now
> while fluctuation (at least in the last few billion years) obviusly
hasn't
> been all bad for the kind of life on this planet its actually much
easier
to
> get simple life to flourish under constant conditions (look at all the
labs
> around the world who go for constant conditions to keep things going).
> There's nothing more constant than a tide locked planet ;)
>
Hmm, I`ve had a idea for a alien race.

> Any habitable planets would have to
> be so far out due to the higher levels of radiation that they couldn't
be
> tide locked, so you get varying light levels and water levels (even
without
> the moon there would be some tides) just to name a few hazards.
>
> - Moons around giant planets (be they rock or gas)
> - Tide locked planets

The thought I`ve had for a alien race run along these lines. A race that
evolved on a tidelocked planet close to a star would have some big
advantages. A planet that close to a star would have a highly energetic
biosphere (more energy from the star equals more energy to be expended
by
the lifeforms?), meaning the probablity of more hostile preditors. This
could give rise to a xenophobia (just like the KV) to anything that
isn`t of
their own species. The lifeform would also be able to stand greater
extreams
of heat and cold (unless they just habited the boundary between the
light
and dark side). Also, a race that evolved on a planet close to a star
would
have a radiation tolerance greater than anything terran, meaning I could
see
said race using fission reactors extensivly. Their reactors would have
good
endurance, and be light for their power output (they wouldn`t need all
the
heavy radiation sheilds that we need). This would raise some problems
fighting them on the ground (do you want to blow up a fission powered
tank?).

Just some ideas off the top of my head.

> Sorry this turned out so long!
>
> Beth
>

Sorry it turned out too long??? Long answers give people info they
probably
didn`t know, and sparks off ideas in their minds, so don`t apologise
<G>.

BIF