Comets and Water

Well I was going with this thought in today's "What if" post,but I
thought I would listen to BV,and post it under a heading.(i listen
sometimes) I go with the theory comets can have lots of ice and
steam(gas) I can visualize comets tails composed of carbon and hydrogen
gases.(why not?) Carbon and hydrogen gases can't burn in a vacuum. Now
that brings in a very interesting thought,they burn in an Atmosphere
with plenty of oxygen. That is the feature of the Earth's air. The
comets ice water will go from solid to a liquid in a flash of time.
How about all that carbon and hydrogen gas burning? That burning of
carbon,hydrogen produces water also. That means the comet has two ways
of dumping water onto the Earth's surface,and pores in its rocks.(yes)
Lets now just think of the comet's carbon(OK) We have a theory that the
decay of animal life(dinosaurs) created the great pools of oil under the
Earth's surface. Can I theorize that the comet's carbon could have been
another way. Could we combine them both to fit? Oil is a carbon hydrogen
molecule. We can now think oil was created organically,and from
comets coming to Earth. Just like water. Bert

"G=EMC^2 Glazier" wrote in message
...
Well I was going with this thought in today's "What if" post,but I
thought I would listen to BV,and post it under a heading.(i listen
sometimes) I go with the theory comets can have lots of ice and
steam(gas) I can visualize comets tails composed of carbon and hydrogen
gases.(why not?) Carbon and hydrogen gases can't burn in a vacuum. Now
that brings in a very interesting thought,they burn in an Atmosphere
with plenty of oxygen. That is the feature of the Earth's air. The
comets ice water will go from solid to a liquid in a flash of time.
How about all that carbon and hydrogen gas burning? That burning of
carbon,hydrogen produces water also. That means the comet has two ways
of dumping water onto the Earth's surface,and pores in its rocks.(yes)
Lets now just think of the comet's carbon(OK) We have a theory that the
decay of animal life(dinosaurs) created the great pools of oil under the
Earth's surface. Can I theorize that the comet's carbon could have been
another way. Could we combine them both to fit? Oil is a carbon hydrogen
molecule. We can now think oil was created organically,and from
comets coming to Earth. Just like water. Bert

Bert, first let me say Kudos. Thanks for posting under a new topic. This
makes it so much easier to follow a thread. In my book, you've just moved up
a few notches.

If comets are rich in both water and carbon, wouldn't that make them just
the perfect carries for life? The idea reminds me of a Sci-Fi story I read
last year. A convict is hired to fly a ship off into outer space and at
preset targets, he is to drop canisters of DNA rich material. The idea being
that the DNA will spawn life and keep the species alive. They used the
convicts, if I remember correctly, because it was literally a dead end
mission.

Suppose...uh...What if...comets are natural canisters of life? How's that
Bert?

BV.

In message , Benign Vanilla
writes


If comets are rich in both water and carbon, wouldn't that make them just
the perfect carries for life? The idea reminds me of a Sci-Fi story I read
last year. A convict is hired to fly a ship off into outer space and at
preset targets, he is to drop canisters of DNA rich material. The idea being
that the DNA will spawn life and keep the species alive. They used the
convicts, if I remember correctly, because it was literally a dead end
mission.


"A World out of Time" by Larry Niven? Based on his short story "Rammer".
Or is there another story with the same theme?

Suppose...uh...What if...comets are natural canisters of life? How's that
Bert?

I know Fred Hoyle was very keen on that idea. We may find out when
Stardust returns its payload ("If all goes well") and I'm very glad they
will be opening the container under strict containment. That's to
protect the comet dust, not the investigators, but it works both ways.
But I suspect that although comets are full of the building blocks of
life, they've never been exposed to the energies that might cause those
blocks to develop further.
--
What have they got to hide? Release the full Beagle 2 report.
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

(G=EMC^2 Glazier) wrote in message ...
Well I was going with this thought in today's "What if" post,but I
thought I would listen to BV,and post it under a heading.(i listen
sometimes) I go with the theory comets can have lots of ice and
steam(gas) I can visualize comets tails composed of carbon and hydrogen
gases.(why not?) Carbon and hydrogen gases can't burn in a vacuum. Now
that brings in a very interesting thought,they burn in an Atmosphere
with plenty of oxygen. That is the feature of the Earth's air.


It is now, after 4 billion years of life. But the Earth's atmosphere
did not have free oxygen when it was forming, and up until life had
been established. The free oxygen comes from the plant life on the
Earth; it was not a prerequisite for life to begin.


The
comets ice water will go from solid to a liquid in a flash of time.
How about all that carbon and hydrogen gas burning? That burning of
carbon,hydrogen produces water also. That means the comet has two ways
of dumping water onto the Earth's surface,and pores in its rocks.(yes)


Comets certainly have contributed some of the Earth's water. But the
Earth undoubtedly had its own supply of water to begin with, as did
all the planets. However some of the planets have lost most of their
water.

Yes, cometary hydrogen burning in the atmosphere today would produce
water. But carbon burning would produce carbon dioxide.


Lets now just think of the comet's carbon(OK) We have a theory that the
decay of animal life(dinosaurs) created the great pools of oil under the
Earth's surface. Can I theorize that the comet's carbon could have been
another way. Could we combine them both to fit? Oil is a carbon hydrogen
molecule. We can now think oil was created organically,and from
comets coming to Earth. Just like water. Bert


Petroleum is composed of complex hydrocarbon molecules that must be
produced by plant or animal life (mostly plants). The simply carbon
compounds found on comets couldn't be responsible for directly
producing oil.

The Earth's early atmosphere undoubtedly contained much carbon in the
form of carbon dioxide. Look at the atmospheres of Mars and Venus
today where there has seemingly been no life, and you will see that
they are still composed of mostly carbon dioxide.

Plant life absorbs this carbon dioxide, and with the help of energy
from sunlight, binds it with hydrogen from water to form hydrocarbons.
Free oxygen is released as a byproduct. That is why the atmosphere
today is high in oxygen and low in carbon dioxide. Of course, when we
burn fossil fuels, we are reversing the process.

Double-A