[LINK] The End Is Nigh [Was: On the Day that you were born (UN

[David Boxall]

On 13/11/2011 4:16 AM, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> David Boxall wrote:
>
>> Life as we know it relies on liquid water. In the worst case scenarios,
>> there's none of that on the surface of the planet. In time, there's none
>> below the surface either.
>
> Where does it go? If the H2O split into its constituent atoms?
> Nothing really leaves our planet except EMR and light gases like H and He.
> ...
Initially, into the atmosphere. Water molecules, exposed in the 
atmosphere to solar radiation, break down over time. Some of the 
hydrogen escapes off planet. The remaining hydrogen and oxygen combine 
with other elements to create acidic compounds.

This is what's thought to have happened to the oceans of Venus. On that 
planet, the main compound in question is H2SO4. In the atmosphere of 
Earth, there's less Sulphur and more Nitrogen. I guess that would make 
the most likely candidate HNO3.

I'm no expert and this is a worst-case. It's probably only slightly more 
likely than the rose-coloured view that God's in His heaven and all's 
right with the world. Even so, is the risk worth taking?

-- 
David Boxall                    |  The more that wise people learn
                                |  The more they come to appreciate
http://david.boxall.id.au       |  How much they don't know.
                                                         --Confucius