Could non carbon based lifeforms exist?

It would be impossible for life on earth to exist without carbon. Carbon is the main component of sugars, proteins, fats, DNA, muscle tissue, pretty much everything in your body. The reason carbon is so special is down to the electron configuration of the individual atoms.

Are humans carbon based lifeforms?

The most important structural element, and the reason we are known as carbon-based life forms. About 12 per cent of your body’s atoms are carbon. The hydrogen atoms in your body were formed in the Big Bang.

What element is most similar to carbon?

The element most similar to Carbon is Silicon. There is no other element very close in properties to carbon, but silicon comes the closest. They both form the same types of bonds in the same way, but silicon bonds are weaker than carbon’s bonds. They form many analogs of each other, too: CO2, SIO2.

Is all life organic?

Organic (carbon-based) compounds are found in all living things. This is where the term “organic” originally came from. If you are thinking that carbon must be very important to life, you are correct. All life on earth can be thought of as “carbon-based.” Just be careful about turning this around backwards.

Is there life on Earth based on something other than carbon?

There have been a number of other proposals for life systems based on something other than carbon. Like carbon and silicon, boron has a tendency to form strong covalent molecular compounds, forming many different structural varieties of hydride, in which boron atoms are linked by hydrogen bridges.

Could silicon-based life exist on Earth?

Silicon-based life can’t survive on Earth anyway. Silicon is more reactive than carbon and can form long ‘chains’ of molecules, reminiscent of hydrocarbons, but it will also react violently with oxygen at relatively low temperatures. This means that silicon chains or ‘silanes’ couldn’t have survived within our atmosphere.

What would happen if there was no carbon in nature?

Without carbon, there would have been no DNA, proteins, lipids, sugar, fat, muscle tissue or anything else that makes up the stuff of life. Considering the 118 elements known to man, it’s strange why only 5-6 of them are used to construct organic life.

What is the biochemistry of life on other planets?

Astrophysicists have also wondered (if we do discover one) about the nature of such an alien civilization. If we were to infer the biochemistry of any life form from what we have already encountered, which is well, us, we’d conclude that it would be based on carbon. Carbon, or as science fiction regularly depicts, carbon’s closest cousin, silicon.