I’ve never seen a convincing alternative to carbon for chemical based life. Yeah you could use Sulfur, Boron, or silicon but they all are much worse and couldn’t form anywhere near the same amount of stable compounds or in borons case is just much rarer
Water and Oxygen both have alternatives but are probably the most likely compounds used by life because they are ubiquitous, usable at high temperatures, and/or have simpler mechanisms than their alternatives. I’d put complex chemical life at about 99% for carbon, 80% for water, 50% for oxygen.
somethingicanspell t1_j6uyvtc wrote
Reply to comment by gregarioussparrow in Investigations reveal more evidence that Mimas is a stealth ocean world by entered_bubble_50
I’ve never seen a convincing alternative to carbon for chemical based life. Yeah you could use Sulfur, Boron, or silicon but they all are much worse and couldn’t form anywhere near the same amount of stable compounds or in borons case is just much rarer
Water and Oxygen both have alternatives but are probably the most likely compounds used by life because they are ubiquitous, usable at high temperatures, and/or have simpler mechanisms than their alternatives. I’d put complex chemical life at about 99% for carbon, 80% for water, 50% for oxygen.