Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Is a carbon planet with seas of methanol on its surface scientifically possible?

+0
−0

I am creating a carbon planet with seas of methanol on its surface, but I am not sure that this is possible.

It is predicted that carbon planets are depleted of water, since the available oxygen would be depleted by reacting with carbon to mainly form simple compounds such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or carbonate ion. But would something similar happen with low molecular weight alcohols, such as methanol?

According to this work, methanol is formed in molecular clouds mainly in dust grains through the successive hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. And it is destroyed by reacting with the hydronium ion, one of the most abundant ions, produced from water.

I think that, due to the greater amount of carbon available and, therefore, of carbon monoxide, methanol would be more abundant in the medium and due to less amount of water, it would be less prone to dissociation. Considering this, it would be logical to think that a carbon planet with seas of methanol on its surface be possible.

But I am not an expert on this and I have not found papers on it, so I would like to hear suggestions. Is it possible a world like this or could methanol also end up like water?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/153095. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »