now know that there are beings capable of replacing the phosphorus by arsenic in their biochemistry, however, the real building blocks of life are carbon atoms. This element is made all biomolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, etc. So the first question is: Why carbon has this role and no other element of the periodic table? The answer is that this element has characteristics ideal for this, such as atomic radius suitable (it is not too large, which leads to more unstable links, not too small, which leads to few electrons and a few links) its atomic number (number of protons and electrons), which allows it to bind up to 4 other atoms. Also, when you are forming molecules may possess different molecular orbital hybridizations (how electrons rearrange when atoms are linked to others), allowing you to form tetrahedra, triangles, planes, etc. This is a reflection of the various types of bonds that can form, such as single bonds, double and even triple very stable.
These, and other features that are not important now (the chemistry is a necessary evil for biologists) are those that make carbon and no other element, the main brick life. But as we said in the earlier trial, the elements of the periodic table found in the same group (column), have similar characteristics. Pay attention to the carbon group (fifth from left to right):
carbon Immediately below we have the silicon (Si), its closest chemical relative, which, unlike carbon, a nonmetal (carbon is a "non metal"). Grossly, the silicon can be used as follows:
As well described by its category, has a much more "cash" instead of carbon (no need upload a photo of this, remember a roast). However, at the atomic level, has many similar properties, such as Silicon can also link to other 4 atoms and may have some similar configurations of carbon, but ran into a first obstacle size. The silicon atoms are much larger than carbon atoms, if we make some simple calculations, we can imagine that if a carbon atom has the size of a ping-pong ball, an atom of silicon about the size of a ball villar. This is an impediment to the variety of links and the strength of these because, as silicon has more electrons, and many of these are further away from the core, are less strongly wedded to it (in technical terms, this means the electronegativity silicon is lower than that of carbon). This brings the problem that the atoms really like electrons, like oxygen, can cling tightly to this and very stable form long polymers such as silicone, which will reduce the chances of silicon to form complex biomolecules.
In summary, although theoretically the chemistry of silicon has many properties similar to carbon, this is not a good candidate to form biomolecules, and therefore, I hold the view that finding life based on the chemistry of other elements carbon is not negligible. However, let us forget a little of all these details and let fly the imagination, imagine that this is possible, how would these beings? I imagined beings who have called "spiders" of silicon. Since silicon gives us the intuitive impression of rigid structures, I imagine beings with heavy exoskeletons, like terrestrial arthropods, which would slow going, as a medieval knight in armor. Now, something interesting happens with your breathing: In our world, there is a group of people, call them "animals", which eat complex molecules based on carbon, these are the carbohydrates or just sugars. Then we use the oxygen in air to oxidize, releasing CO2 in this process, which is a gas that emanates from our nose. On the other hand, we have a group of beings that we call "plants" which use this CO2 and thanks to the power delivered by the sun, re-build these sugars for their use. These sugars are ingested by animals and thus fulfilled a cycle that is the basis of life on our planet.
But now, let's see what happens with our spiders: They eat "silica-sugars, which are oxidized by atmospheric oxygen, analogous to releasing the CO2, SiO2 or better known as" silica. " This compound is a gas, is a solid and is the main compound of the sand. So bugs that would Sandy exhale! So let's say you have a special channel in its structure, by which the sand is falling as they walk on a planet that likely would be a vast, dry desert.
These spiders need to eat "silica-sugars" from any source, similar to plants of our planet, and also I have imagined that some beings, but present them in the second part of this essay, which will be more art than science .
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