Properties of life on earth
Earth is a planet that supports life, but what in real sense enables it to do that? In this part of the essay earth’s properties that enable it to support life is what will be looked at.
First, we are in the zone that scientists have named the ‘Goldilocks zone’. Earth is in this small region found in space where the temperatures are sufficiently cold to take a grip of water short of it boiling, moreover sufficiently warm letting it remain in the liquid form.
Secondly, the atmosphere contains 20% of oxygen, which sanctions our breathing. Other gases are contained in slightly higher and lower concentrations with argon at 1%, nitrogen 78%, carbon 0.04%, and other inert gases.
Third, the earth’s atmosphere has an ozone layer that blocks harmful UV radiation from reaching earth. The same atmosphere also produces shooting stars that are not harmful by preventing hitting of the earth by meteors. This prevents destruction of the earth and it organisms by the meteorites.
Fourth, plants are in abundance and they utilize the sun’s light in photosynthesis thus producing oxygen. This enriches the earth’s atmosphere with oxygen that is vital for organism’s survival. Moreover, scientist say that plants presence in Titan which is Saturn’s moon, would result in the presence of oxygen in that nitrogen atmosphere therefore allowing development of life.
Possibilities of extraterrestrial (E.T) life in the universe
The big question that that everyone is asking is: Is there life out there in space?
Extraterrestrial life symbolizes a huge gap in the knowledge that so far the human race has gathered. Instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope have facilitated the discovery of a lot of cosmic territories, however they only still know of one world that is inhabited.
Everybody has their own scenarios and suppositions. Carl Sagan, the late astronomer estimates that our galaxy alone has one million civilizations that are advanced technologically. Frank drake, his other conservative colleague puts the estimate at 10,000. John Oro, a comet researcher who pioneers the field, has his calculations at 100 civilizations sprinkled in the Milky Way. On the skepticism side there are those like Ben Zuckerman who is at UCLA as an astronomer, thinks that there is a possibility of us being alone in the galaxy as well as the universe.
All estimates and calculations are exceedingly speculative. Fact is there is no evidence that concludes life outside earth. Despite the absence of this evidence, this does not necessarily mean that it is enough evidence of the absence. However, we still yet do not contain solid proof of even a solitary pore, sole alien microbe, and less a passing starship of alien that has left a hubcap.
Sagan calls our thoughts about E.T life ‘plausibility’ arguments, since it contains hunches, unknowns, indiscriminate ought-to-bes. Even though we persuade ourselves of the possibility of life in outer space, we still have no idea of what that life is and even about how alien it can be.
E.T life is an exciting field of scientific investigation that is full of optimism. As from 1995, 22 planets have been discovered circumnavigating other stars. NASA is hoping to construct a telescope that will search for planets like earth named the Terrestrial Planet Finder. It will examine the planets for atmospheric signatures that constitute a world that lives. Not to lose hope, the organisms are able to survive in hostile, bizarre environments. Microbes live in the openings of rocks bottomless under the earth even more at Yellowstone’s spring rim that scalds, so they should find Mars not that shabby.
References
Ward, P. D. (2005). Life as we do not know it: the NASA search for (and synthesis of) alien life. New York: Viking.
