What would the conditions on a methane world be like?
The picture above is a representation of a Methane Earth. I pulled it from this Wikipedia article on alternative solvents.
Several questions deal with whether life would be possible on a world with alternative biochemistry and the answer is a resounding yes. However very few explore what conditions for life on such a world would be like so...
Question:
What general environmental conditions would need to be met for a world where, rather than using H2O as a solvent, we use liquid CH4 commonly known as liquid methane as a solvent, to exist?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/14312. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
What would the planet be like?
Cold. Very cold.
Methane is liquid between −182.5°C(−296.4°F, 90.7 K) And −161.49°C(−258.68°F, 111.66 K), so very, very cold.
On "warm" days the seas would boil.
You'd have some interesting snow around, like radon and xenon.
Fire would be very bad, because liquid methane is warmer than liquid oxygen, so any fire would instantly boil then ignite the methane...
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