Re: Lovelock Atmosphere Quote
- From: "Perplexed in Peoria" <jimmenegay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 20:09:21 -0500 (EST)
<TomHendricks474@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:dos4di$oj0$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Lovelock (The Ages of Gaia) had this quote about the
> atmosphere which supports the sun as the key ingredient
> to the chemical change needed for any origin of life.
>
> "There are many reasons why the atmosphere is
> so much more revealing about life than are the
> ocean or the crustal rocks. It is the region of rapid
> chemical change under the influence of sunlight;
> no mixture of gases capable of chemical reaction
> can long remain unchanged in the atmosphere."
I believe that you are misreading this passage. Lovelock
is not talking here about the sun's role in the origin.
He is saying that, in the presence of sunlight, the atmosphere
functions as a fairly efficient 'sewage treatment system'.
Given that such a treatment system works, if you find any
small levels of sewage in the atmosphere, then that sewage
must have been generated recently - the treatment means that
sewage can't stick around very long. There must be a continuing
source of 'sewage' - that is, the planet must contain life.
Three forms of 'sewage' which Lovelock believes would prove
to a Martian astronomer that life exists on Earth are molecular
oxygen, methane, and dimethyl sulfide. All of these are
waste products of living organisms, but the atmosphere could
recycle them (with solar support) even if there weren't other
lifeforms around to do the recycling.
.
- References:
- Lovelock Atmosphere Quote
- From: TomHendricks474
- Lovelock Atmosphere Quote
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