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Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

smithsonianmag.com

31–40 of 236 posts

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#31
post #26

Question I'm asking myself is, what's the likelihood there would have ever been fossil fuel deposits with the potential to kickstart a civilization?

Humans had civilization before we knew how to use fossil fuels, we just didn't have industrial civilization. AIUI civilization mostly consists of agreeing to live and work together in groups bigger than Dunbar's number.

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#32
post #11
post #2

That’s enough time for a civilization to have been born, lived, and died. Unfortunately there’s probably no way to find evidence of their existence by now it seems? Some day they may say Earth could have been habitable for billions of years.

If there was a civilization on Venus anything like our current civilization on Earth, I expect there would still be evidence of it, even in that hostile environment. If nothing else, there'd probably be unnatural formations of ground from mines or freeway construction or whatever.

Life After People was a good series about this. IIRC, the only thing left of humanity after some appreciable amount of time (say a couple millenia), would be the pyramids. Evidence might be on Venus, but we might have to look thoroughly to find it.

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#34
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would cooling it help to reduce the amount of pressure the atmosphere has? Isn't the pressure on the surface something like 95 times that of earth.

PV=nRT, so yes, reducing the temperature would reduce the atmospheric pressure. Edit: wasn't thinking at all about the volume

Volume would vary in this instance, too, right?

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#35
post #11
post #2

That’s enough time for a civilization to have been born, lived, and died. Unfortunately there’s probably no way to find evidence of their existence by now it seems? Some day they may say Earth could have been habitable for billions of years.

If there was a civilization on Venus anything like our current civilization on Earth, I expect there would still be evidence of it, even in that hostile environment. If nothing else, there'd probably be unnatural formations of ground from mines or freeway construction or whatever.

The oldest known undisturbed area of the Earth's surface is only about 2 million years old

It turns over very fast in geological time

https://www.livescience.com/3542-oldest-surface-earth-discov...

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#36
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would cooling it help to reduce the amount of pressure the atmosphere has? Isn't the pressure on the surface something like 95 times that of earth.

PV=nRT, so yes, reducing the temperature would reduce the atmospheric pressure. Edit: wasn't thinking at all about the volume

Or volume. More likely volume, since the pressure is just a function of how much stuff is above me.

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#37
post #2

That’s enough time for a civilization to have been born, lived, and died. Unfortunately there’s probably no way to find evidence of their existence by now it seems? Some day they may say Earth could have been habitable for billions of years.

Exactly what I thought. Maybe there was a civilization and they totally messed up their planet like we do now.

Only half joking by the way.

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#38
post #25
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would cooling it help to reduce the amount of pressure the atmosphere has? Isn't the pressure on the surface something like 95 times that of earth.

Surely it would cool below the point where Co2 becomes solid (most of the atmosphere is Co2). Imagine walking around on fields of Co2 :)

Reminds me of the short story "A Pail of Air".

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#39
post #25
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would cooling it help to reduce the amount of pressure the atmosphere has? Isn't the pressure on the surface something like 95 times that of earth.

Surely it would cool below the point where Co2 becomes solid (most of the atmosphere is Co2). Imagine walking around on fields of Co2 :)

I read an SF story a few years ago where the idea was to sequester the carbon of Venus into blocks of diamond. A minor bit of (ahem) atmosphere in a pretty good novel . . . just don't remember the title.

Re: Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (2019)

#40
post #11
post #2

That’s enough time for a civilization to have been born, lived, and died. Unfortunately there’s probably no way to find evidence of their existence by now it seems? Some day they may say Earth could have been habitable for billions of years.

If there was a civilization on Venus anything like our current civilization on Earth, I expect there would still be evidence of it, even in that hostile environment. If nothing else, there'd probably be unnatural formations of ground from mines or freeway construction or whatever.

But can we even see it through that thick atmosphere? Even probes we'd send down get corroded by the acid.
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