Silicon based life on Mars???

Im just curious what people think about this. Im providing a link to a site I have kept up with for quite awhile. I have been in contact with the guy that runs this website and it appears he has found a Meteorite from Mars that contains unknown Silicon based lifeforms. There are also pictures of what he has found and links to some very intriguing information.

www.marslife.com...

I hope to hear what others think about this as I believe their may be life there, or at least at one time. There are some good links to pictures of Glass-like structures on the surface, and many more interesting features on Mars.

[edit on 15-7-2004 by Jazzerman]

I think this is a moronic idea. Silicon based life hmm? Well diatoms are somewhat the closest thing I can think of to such a life form. Other than that, we have "silicon" based life on earth, it grows, it reproduces when there is an abundance of resources, it is called Quartz

I mean seriously, do the people that think up these theories ever bother to think of how these life forms would live?

I mean...sure the rocks will be relatively high in silicon, I believe it is nearly the same as Earth though I can't remember the figure.

But that is all in the form of Silica, which is SiO3, SiO8, Si2O8 and so forth, and is bonded rather well to other things. Potassium, Alluminum, Calcium, Sodium, ferromagnesium and so on.

So where will the little life form get its Silicon? It doesn't just have a puddle of it. It has to break it down from rocks, which means energy. Which means chemicals because it doesn't have an atom smasher. So with that understanding, where is it going to get its energy?

Two options.

Three actually.

1) Geothermal (martian-thermal in this case haha).
2) Solar (photosynthesis)
3) Combustion (aerobic).

Since there is no oxygen, #3 is out.

Since there is no thermal energy from the planet #1 is out.

And unless they discovered a new way to generate energy from the sun, since there is no photosynthesis going on (no green stuff) #2 is out.

So there is no way to produce energy to break down silicon to make a silicon life form.

So there goes the idea of such a life form.

Now why won't silicon produce glass-like structures?

No volcanism.

Glass is produced by RAPID cooling, very rapid, so rapid that Silicon can not crystalize.

There is probably volcanic glass, but it is very old.

But anyway, if you found a glass-like structure on Mars, it does not mean a life form, because silicon is not "glassy" unless heated into a melt, and cooled extremely rapidly. Otherwise it will form crystals of varying sizes.

In summary, I believe the idea is crack-pot, and put forth by people whose lack of knowledge of Geology is only surpassed by the same in Bio-chemistry.

i belive there may have been life in the past but i agree with freemason on this so called 'information'

I'm currently looking at this guy's "Frass Meteorite" and when I'm done, I'm going to have a whopper of a post

lol. i'm sure everyone can't wait FM

Silicon based life.

NOT impossible, but not highly likely.
Here is a short video, with an article from NASA

silicon vs carbon

Originally posted by spacedoubt
Silicon based life.

NOT impossible, but not highly likely.
Here is a short video, with an article from NASA

silicon vs carbon

there is another video on there to backup what your saying too.

HERE

Silicon based life is possible but as stated earlier highly unprobable. Silicon's attraction to hydrogen is too strong for it to be used easily in biological functions.