Missing Earth's sial explains Fermi paradox

Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

The Earth's crust is made of two layers called
sima and sial. Sima is the lower and denser layer.
It is 5 to 10 km thick and covers the entire surface
of the Earth. Sial is 20-70 km thick and covers only
30% of the Earth's surface; this is the elevated
part of the Earth's surface called continents. The
remaining 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with
oceans. None of the existing theories explain how the
sial was selectively scooped up from 70% of the Earth's
surface and deposited on the Moon. A glancing collision
with the Moon could not have removed sial from more
than about 10% of the Earth's surface and its energy
would have melted the adjacent sial, which would have
covered the entire surface of the removed sial.

The selective removal of sial from large part of the
Earth's surface is the only way to make continents.
Continents must be made of sial because other minerals
are too dense so they would sink rather than remain
on the Earth's surface for eons.

The missing sial leaves empty space between tectonic
plates and thus makes plate tectonics possible on
the Earth. Venus is good example of an Earth-like
planet that does not have plate tectonics. Without
plate tectonics to dissipate heat from its mantle,
Venus undergoes a cyclical process in which mantle
temperatures rise until they reach a critical level
that weakens the crust. Then, over a period of about
100 million years, subduction occurs on enormous
scale, completely recycling the crust. The subduction
would have killed all higher forms of life if they
had been present on Venus.

In the absence of continents there would have been no
advanced forms of life on Earth because the entire
surface of the Earth would have been covered with
oceans and the only source of minerals for the marine
life would have been hydrothermal vents. The vents
cannot support great abundance and diversity of life,
which is necessary for speedy evolution of life.
Marine life of our planet is confined to places that
have abundance of iron, nitrates, phosphates and
silicates. Nearly all of these minerals are
transported from continents by rivers and winds.

If the planet has no continents, it has no land animals
that can make fire, smelt metals, and create
technological civilization. If the planet has no
continents, but it has an ocean, a giant asteroid impact
may create islands, but these islands do not have lower
density than the adjacent crust, so they sink in the
crust.

It is very difficult to imagine any geological or
astronomical event that could selectively scoop up
sial from 70% of the Earth's surface. I believe that
the most probable event was a sequence of three
collisions:

1. HYPOTHESIS: About 4.5 billion years ago the Kuiper
belt object that is now 2003EL61 collided obliquely with
another, unnamed, large Kuiper belt object. The oblique
impact caused 2003EL61 to spin rapidly and it transformed
its shape from a ball to american football. The
probability that the impact was oblique is low, on the
order of 0.01, because the 2003EL61 is the only large
object in the solar system that spins rapidly and has
american football shape.

2. FACT: The absence of planet in the place where
Ceres asteroid is now is the only exception of the
Titius-Bode Law. HYPOTHESIS: 4.5 billion years ago
there was a bigger asteroid in the place where Ceres
is now. Let us call it Theia and let us call the
unnamed large Kuiper belt object Orpheus. Ceres has
rocky core overlain with icy mantle. Theia had
the same composition as Ceres but it was larger.
Orpheus was made mostly of water ice. It was not
broken into small pieces by the impact with 2003EL61
because the impact was oblique. The impact hurled
Orpheus into a collision path with Theia. When Orpheus
hit Theia, the impact moved Theia toward Jupiter and
melted most of the water ice. The average distance
between 2003EL61 and Ceres is on the order of 5000 Gm
(35 AU). Diameter of Orpheus was probably on the order
of 1000 km. Diameter of Theia is unknown; let us assume
that it was 2000 km. The probability that Orpheus hit
Theia is on the order of 10^-13.

3. HYPOTHESIS: The enormous gravity of Jupiter hurled
Theia toward the Earth. As Theia was moving toward
the Earth, its mantle of liquid water was vaporized by
the sunlight, creating watery atmosphere. Theia became
giant comet. Its rocky core collided with the Moon thus
creating a new, hot Moon. A few hours later Theia's
watery atmosphere collided with the Earth. It ablated
Earth's sial on all sides except the back 30% of the
Earth's surface. Dust particles made from the sial,
the Moon, and the rocky core of Theia were suspended
in the atmosphere. Some of Theia's atmosphere was
captured by the new Moon. The dust settling on the
hot Moon melted and formed the Moon's crust. When the
collision separated Theia's rocky core from its
atmosphere, the atmosphere quickly expanded due to
the heat generated by the collision and due to reduced
gravity (no core). The expansion reduced density of
the atmosphere before the collision with the Earth.
Theia was quickly loosing its volatile atmosphere
after the collision with Orpheus because much of its
elliptic orbit was close to the sun. If it was loosing
its atmosphere at the rate of 0.1 meter per day, it had
to collide with the Earth in about 10,000 years. The
probability that the collision between Earth and Theia
took place within 10,000 years since the collision
between Theia and Orpheus is on the order of 10^-9.

The probability that all these events occurred is
on the order of (0.01)*(10^-13)*(10^-9) = 10^-24.

One percent of stars in our galaxy, called Milky Way,
has Earth-like planets which have liquid water and
thus seem capable of supporting life. This means
that the probability that the Earth has oceans and
continents is on the order of 10^-26.

There are about 100 billion (10^11) stars in our
galaxy and about 7*10^22 stars in the entire visible
universe. The probability that another planet in
the entire visible universe has oceans and continents
is on the order of (10^-26)*(7*10^22) = 7*10^-4;
about one event in one thousand.

We are lucky to have massive Moon. Earth's obliquity
(the angle between the Earth's equator and the plane
of its orbit) is 23.5 degrees. If the massive Moon
had not existed, the Earth's obliquity would have
varied wildly between 0 and 80 degrees. Such
variation would have caused extreme climatic changes.

The probability that a planet has continents and that
its advanced forms of life survive as long as they
have survived on our planet is low because we barely
survived a few cataclysms and because there may have
been close calls that left no evidence that we can
study.

My estimates are not precise but they do not have
to be precise to convey important truth: we are
the only civilization in the visible universe, so
SETI is a waste of time. There is another proof
that planets having continents are extremely ra
if they had been common, extraterrestrial
civilizations would have colonized our galaxy
and our planet billions of years ago.

Andrew Nowicki wrote:
Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

First made an interesting read by Isaac Asimov in a prequel to the Foundation
series. I forget the name.

--
There is no excuse for us to accept from politicians anything that we would
never accept from our own children. Maybe that is why they work at appearing
lovable.
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3723
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Lawful to bomb Israelis http://www.giwersworld.org/israel/bombings.phtml a11

On 27 Mar, 03:55, Andrew Nowicki wrote:
Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see:http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

The Earth's crust is made of two layers called
sima and sial. Sima is the lower and denser layer.
It is 5 to 10 km thick and covers the entire surface
of the Earth. Sial is 20-70 km thick and covers only
30% of the Earth's surface; this is the elevated
part of the Earth's surface called continents. The
remaining 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with
oceans. None of the existing theories explain how the
sial was selectively scooped up from 70% of the Earth's
surface and deposited on the Moon. A glancing collision
with the Moon could not have removed sial from more
than about 10% of the Earth's surface and its energy
would have melted the adjacent sial, which would have
covered the entire surface of the removed sial.

The selective removal of sial from large part of the
Earth's surface is the only way to make continents.
Continents must be made of sial because other minerals
are too dense so they would sink rather than remain
on the Earth's surface for eons.

The missing sial leaves empty space between tectonic
plates and thus makes plate tectonics possible on
the Earth. Venus is good example of an Earth-like
planet that does not have plate tectonics. Without
plate tectonics to dissipate heat from its mantle,
Venus undergoes a cyclical process in which mantle
temperatures rise until they reach a critical level
that weakens the crust. Then, over a period of about
100 million years, subduction occurs on enormous
scale, completely recycling the crust. The subduction
would have killed all higher forms of life if they
had been present on Venus.

In the absence of continents there would have been no
advanced forms of life on Earth because the entire
surface of the Earth would have been covered with
oceans and the only source of minerals for the marine
life would have been hydrothermal vents. The vents
cannot support great abundance and diversity of life,
which is necessary for speedy evolution of life.
Marine life of our planet is confined to places that
have abundance of iron, nitrates, phosphates and
silicates. Nearly all of these minerals are
transported from continents by rivers and winds.

If the planet has no continents, it has no land animals
that can make fire, smelt metals, and create
technological civilization. If the planet has no
continents, but it has an ocean, a giant asteroid impact
may create islands, but these islands do not have lower
density than the adjacent crust, so they sink in the
crust.

It is very difficult to imagine any geological or
astronomical event that could selectively scoop up
sial from 70% of the Earth's surface. I believe that
the most probable event was a sequence of three
collisions:

1. HYPOTHESIS: About 4.5 billion years ago the Kuiper
belt object that is now 2003EL61 collided obliquely with
another, unnamed, large Kuiper belt object. The oblique
impact caused 2003EL61 to spin rapidly and it transformed
its shape from a ball to american football. The
probability that the impact was oblique is low, on the
order of 0.01, because the 2003EL61 is the only large
object in the solar system that spins rapidly and has
american football shape.

2. FACT: The absence of planet in the place where
Ceres asteroid is now is the only exception of the
Titius-Bode Law. HYPOTHESIS: 4.5 billion years ago
there was a bigger asteroid in the place where Ceres
is now. Let us call it Theia and let us call the
unnamed large Kuiper belt object Orpheus. Ceres has
rocky core overlain with icy mantle. Theia had
the same composition as Ceres but it was larger.
Orpheus was made mostly of water ice. It was not
broken into small pieces by the impact with 2003EL61
because the impact was oblique. The impact hurled
Orpheus into a collision path with Theia. When Orpheus
hit Theia, the impact moved Theia toward Jupiter and
melted most of the water ice. The average distance
between 2003EL61 and Ceres is on the order of 5000 Gm
(35 AU). Diameter of Orpheus was probably on the order
of 1000 km. Diameter of Theia is unknown; let us assume
that it was 2000 km. The probability that Orpheus hit
Theia is on the order of 10^-13.

3. HYPOTHESIS: The enormous gravity of Jupiter hurled
Theia toward the Earth. As Theia was moving toward
the Earth, its mantle of liquid water was vaporized by
the sunlight, creating watery atmosphere. Theia became
giant comet. Its rocky core collided with the Moon thus
creating a new, hot Moon. A few hours later Theia's
watery atmosphere collided with the Earth. It ablated
Earth's sial on all sides except the back 30% of the
Earth's surface. Dust particles made from the sial,
the Moon, and the rocky core of Theia were suspended
in the atmosphere. Some of Theia's atmosphere was
captured by the new Moon. The dust settling on the
hot Moon melted and formed the Moon's crust. When the
collision separated Theia's rocky core from its
atmosphere, the atmosphere quickly expanded due to
the heat generated by the collision and due to reduced
gravity (no core). The expansion reduced density of
the atmosphere before the collision with the Earth.
Theia was quickly loosing its volatile atmosphere
after the collision with Orpheus because much of its
elliptic orbit was close to the sun. If it was loosing
its atmosphere at the rate of 0.1 meter per day, it had
to collide with the Earth in about 10,000 years. The
probability that the collision between Earth and Theia
took place within 10,000 years since the collision
between Theia and Orpheus is on the order of 10^-9.

The probability that all these events occurred is
on the order of (0.01)*(10^-13)*(10^-9) = 10^-24.

One percent of stars in our galaxy, called Milky Way,
has Earth-like planets which have liquid water and
thus seem capable of supporting life. This means
that the probability that the Earth has oceans and
continents is on the order of 10^-26.

There are about 100 billion (10^11) stars in our
galaxy and about 7*10^22 stars in the entire visible
universe. The probability that another planet in
the entire visible universe has oceans and continents
is on the order of (10^-26)*(7*10^22) = 7*10^-4;
about one event in one thousand.

We are lucky to have massive Moon. Earth's obliquity
(the angle between the Earth's equator and the plane
of its orbit) is 23.5 degrees. If the massive Moon
had not existed, the Earth's obliquity would have
varied wildly between 0 and 80 degrees. Such
variation would have caused extreme climatic changes.

The probability that a planet has continents and that
its advanced forms of life survive as long as they
have survived on our planet is low because we barely
survived a few cataclysms and because there may have
been close calls that left no evidence that we can
study.

My estimates are not precise but they do not have
to be precise to convey important truth: we are
the only civilization in the visible universe, so
SETI is a waste of time. There is another proof
that planets having continents are extremely ra
if they had been common, extraterrestrial
civilizations would have colonized our galaxy
and our planet billions of years ago.

How come Mars has even more elevation than Earth. Add 10 million cubic
kilometres of water to Mars (a 300km diameter ice ball, with some
ammonia mixed in) and it might have a descent climate.

Of course, there are other explanations as to why there are no extra
terrestrials, or why they've never visited.

How come Mars has even more elevation than Earth. Add 10 million cubic
kilometres of water to Mars (a 300km diameter ice ball, with some
ammonia mixed in) and it might have a descent climate.

Of course, there are other explanations as to why there are no extra
terrestrials, or why they've never visited.

Ah, question answered in the next link:

Quote
However, things aren't as simple - they never are! Mars has no plate
tectonics, and does not even have the episodic mountain building
processes that Venus does. Those attractively large looking land areas
will be swallowed fast. Most of the mountains in the southern
hemisphere of Mars are over 3.5 billion years old. They would all be
gone by now. Even the dramatic-looking Tharsis volcanic province is
deceptive. The flow rate from Mons Olympus is no more than from Hawaii
on Earth. Erosion can keep close match to that leading to a broad
shallow sea of eroded lava sand, with a small volcanic island in the
middle.

And when we look at Mars' heat flow and the activity of its volcanoes,
we find that the planet is cooling off and contracting (Hoffman
2001d). For the last billion years, very little has happened on Mars
to build mountains. If there were an ocean on Mars, it would have
eaten away all the land by now and filled in the basins to make a
giant flat ball covered in water - another waterworld.

Andrew Nowicki wrote:
Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

The Earth's crust is made of two layers called
sima and sial. Sima is the lower and denser layer.
It is 5 to 10 km thick and covers the entire surface
of the Earth. Sial is 20-70 km thick and covers only
30% of the Earth's surface; this is the elevated
part of the Earth's surface called continents. The
remaining 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with
oceans. None of the existing theories explain how the
sial was selectively scooped up from 70% of the Earth's
surface and deposited on the Moon. A glancing collision
with the Moon could not have removed sial from more
than about 10% of the Earth's surface and its energy
would have melted the adjacent sial, which would have
covered the entire surface of the removed sial.

The problem with this hypothesis is not apparent in this summary. It appears to
say that because something is missing there is plate tectonics. Yet a view of
the plates shows nothing missing. Plates cover the world. Thus there is no
connection between something missing and plates all over the world.

It appears rather than asymmetrical motions of the core are the source of the
layer that became the plates. The most obvious source of the asymmetry is simply
the radioactive heating of the core which causes the warmest to rise towards the
surface. It cannot rise uniformly without leaving a vacuum in the center. As the
center of the earth has no effect of gravity the effect increases as it moves
further from the center giving radial acceleration. And then the earth rotates
giving a force away from the axis to combine with a force away from the center.
In any event there are more than sufficient forces to break up the layer/type of
material that became our plates.

So the problem on Mars is size so the heating forces are much less. That said
something like half of Mars would be dry land which are unrelated to volcanic
activity.

The only issue with Venus is the amount of atmosphere. It is not clear how
Earth's relative lack of atmosphere can be explained by an impact given the
explanation I have read of the moon forming after the impact. A proportion of
the atmosphere should have gone to the moon in the ratio of the mass. In space
all matter is equal when ejected by the impact whether it started as solid,
liquid or gas. (In fact gas should be less ejected velocity as it is weakly
coupled to the impact force.) If there is an unusual amount of atmosphere
missing then there must also be an unusual amount of land/crust/whatever
missing. That may be true but I have not heard mention of it.

--
If the US recognizes the right of Jews to Palestine how can it deny Utah to
the Latter Day Saints?
-- The Iron Webmaster, 3739
nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
Old Testament http://www.giwersworld.org/bible/ot.phtml a6

Andrew Nowicki wrote:
Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

(snip)

Some interpret a mountain range on Titan as evidence of plate tectonics.

If there are two bodies in our solar system with this phenomenon, I'd
guess it isn't very rare throughout the galaxy.

Hop

Hop David wrote:
Andrew Nowicki wrote:
Earth is a unique planet because it has continents.
(see: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-01x1.html)

(snip)

Some interpret a mountain range on Titan as evidence of plate tectonics.

If there are two bodies in our solar system with this phenomenon, I'd
guess it isn't very rare throughout the galaxy.

Hop

Some say the science isn't settled on this so-called Titan. Some say
these pictures look like photoshopped images of Earth's frozen polar
regions. Some say NASA is angling for climate change research pork
dollars, and this inconvenient evidence of a cold terrestrial
environment is being passed off to the public as images "from another
world." Are NASA researchers in the thrall of Al Gore and the
enviro-fascists? Does Titan actually exist? And why does it have the
same name as a big, gas-guzzling pickup truck? These are open questions.

--
It Came From Corry Lee Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net
Keep your head and arms inside The Mixer at all times.

In article .net,
Unclaimed Mysteries
the_letter_k_and_the_numeral_4_doh@unclaimedmyste ries.net wrote:

Some say the science isn't settled on this so-called Titan. Some say
these pictures look like photoshopped images of Earth's frozen polar
regions. Some say NASA is angling for climate change research pork
dollars, and this inconvenient evidence of a cold terrestrial
environment is being passed off to the public as images "from another
world."

Some are idiots.

Unclaimed Mysteries wrote:

Some say the science isn't settled on this so-called Titan. Some say
these pictures look like photoshopped images of Earth's frozen polar
regions.


Some say there's a witch flying around in Mexico:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNbe0YWXUuc
At the Justice League Of Mexico, we of course _know_ that there is a
witch flying around in Mexico; Sister Betrayal, The Fallen Nun. But what
most of the good people of Mexico don't suspect is that there are
_thousands of witches_ flying around in Mexico at any given moment...the
air can be as thick with them as bats - but most of them aren't
mucho-show-offs like Sister Betrayal, and employ stealth hexes.
Si.
That is the truth.
A truth too frightening for many people to know.
A truth too frightening for many of them to _ever_ know.
As frightening as seeing a Chupacabra skull for the first time:
http://tinyurl.com/25rdab
Every morning, as I first look in the mirror to reassure myself that I
am not yet undead, I thank Our Lady Of Tijuana that I do not have fangs
growing out of _my_ nose.
Watch for the sure signs of Chupacabra infestation at all times in your
barrio:
1. A suspicious lack of goats in the vicinity.
2. Unopened bottles of salsa that have been drained through two small
punctures in their necks.
3. Strange black dogs that chase cars at night...and catch them,
draining the air out of their tires.
¿How will you know these creatures?
This is "Chuci - The Good Chupacabra":
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/118...02b975.jpg?v=0
Once a minion of El Diablo, he has seen the light, and now fights for
Truth, Justice, and Lax Immigration Laws at the J.L.O.M. "Unnatural
Creatures Petting Zoo".
For him at least, there shall be peace in a joyous afterlife.
But many of his kind still walk the world in the state of Damnation*:
http://tinyurl.com/2vqoe3 http://tinyurl.com/36auzy
Beware these Pups Of Perdition!

Fr. Rev. Dr. Ernesto Cojones
J.L.O.M.

* They are particularly numerous and fierce in that state, and the wise
hombre does not cross the border from Tamaulipas into it without good
reason; and then only when carrying one of my patented Blessed Habanero
Spray Crucifixes. The mighty blast of fearsome chilli spray emitted from
our Crucified Saviour's Holy Mouth will send any fiend of El Diablo
scurrying back to the infernal regions just to cool down.
They are on sale this week BTW, and each contains a small fragment of an
actual saint's bone; for five hundred pesos extra, this will be from a
human saint, and not a St. Bernard. For one thousand pesos extra, it
will be from a saint you might have actually heard of.
¿But may I suggest for anyone traveling in Chupacabra infested areas,
that only the strongest protection will do?
For only five thousand pesos extra, you can carry the most potent
Chupacabra protection that we offer - The Blessed Habanero Spray
Crucifix...containing a bone fragment of Santo Domingo De Silos, patron
saint of mad dogs!: http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/saintd54.htm
Si! I have once again returned from Europe with a rich harvest of Holy
Artifacts extracted from its finest monasteries by the dark of the Moon,
to preserve their Full Blessed Powers! And Spain, as usual, was first
stop on my itinerary due to its lax security systems at Holy Sites!
My risks are once again your gain! ;-)

I spent an hour and a half crafting a response. I pressed [send] and
it said it posted and it never appeared! lol. It was a good one
too. Ah well.

Without all the references I can summarize my points.

1) The incidence of organic matter in the universe is high
2) We are organic matter

The question is, what is the incidence of creatures like us?

The answer is pretty rare.

Here's why

1) Our lifetime is short
2) We are the result of an unusual series of events

Check it out..

Within the next 30 years we will either wipe ourselves out due to
nuclear war, or wipe ourselves out due to environmental degradation or
be wiped out by the technological singularity... here I'll give
(again) one of the many references I used to build this result in my
last post

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

ETI is most likely to be post biological. ETL - Extra Terrestrial
Life is most likely to be singled celled.

The Earth and Sun are 4.6 billion years old. To put the history of
life into an understandable context lets say the Earth and Sun are the
age of a 46 year old person. That's 100 million years per year on our
scale model.

So, the Earth and Sun were born together 46 years ago from the debris
of exploded stars that were around from the beginning. Stars that
were about 70 years old before they exploded. These older stars
couldn't support life because they were made from the stuff of the big
bang, and the stuff of the big bang didn't include nitrogen, oxygen,
carbon, .. and so life as we know it was impossible. After the heavy
stuff was made, life was common.

So life is like life anywhere. Walk through the Kalihari desert during
the dry season and you'll see baked mud. Walk there at just the right
time after the rains come, and you'll see it teeming with life.

That's the way the universe is today. All the stars are coming of age
in our time - which makes sense because our time is the time of life.

But look at the history and you'll see what Intelligent Life is so
rare.

The system was 6 before single celled life appeared. The system was
16 before photosynthesis was invented. The system was 26 before
complex cells like we all are today were created. Complex cells are
needed for multi-celled organisms (bodies and organs) to work. And
the system was 36 before simple multi-celled organisms arose, and 40
before complex organism arose - organisms capable of brains. And
technology arose just this morning, six years later - and radio
telescopes rockets and nuclear power and antimatter only 8 seconds ago
and the technological singularity that will displace organic
intelligence will be 4 seconds from now.

So, once brains appear technology seems as certain as life when the
conditions for life appeared. That is it took six years on our scale
model for life to appear after the Earth was formed, and it took 6
years on our scale model for technology and the technological
singularity to appear after brains appeared. But it took 34 years for
brains to appear! This suggests its far more diffcult to make brains
from life than to make life itself.

So, what does this tell us?

That life is common. Intelligent life is rare. Well rare for life.
Life is so common in the cosmos in this epoch its hard to say any part
of it is rare. Intelligence is rare on the scale of galaxies and
common in the universe still.

But there's a twist. Intelligent life is a rare transitional stage
between no intelligence and post-biological intelligence. Heck,
bodies are a rate transitional stage between single celled organisms
and big brains.

We're like the placenta that occurs only during the birth of a new
intelligence. Something that is essential to the formation of post-
biological intelligence, but garbage after its born.

So, this explains why ETIs don't contact us. We have nothing more to
say to them than a placenta has to say to an adult human. And the
adult human poking around with the placenta before the baby is born is
not good. Although humans might be the subject of the attention of a
few professoinals after the birth of the new post-biological
intelligence once the birth takes place - but most likely to determine
the health of the baby by learning how it was made at a very deep
level.

I'll post this and add a few other thoughts as well