Where did the water come from.

[Chippy_Tea]

They are discussing other planets on the radio and the question came up where did the water on Earth come from?

About 71% of Earth's surface is water: it's not for nothing that our home is known as the 'blue planet'.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

It comes from the clouds Chippy!

 

[jof]

No, it comes from the leaky dishwasher connector under my sink.

 

[Alastair70]

Comets.

Or if you listen to the people round my parts, god did it just over 3000 years ago. 3 days after light, but the day before the sun (and no, they can’t explain that one to me. Photons must be another concept he created to test faith)

 

[foxy]

They are discussing other planets on the radio and the question came up where did the water on Earth come from?

Another little-known fact there is 3 times more water beneath the earth than is on the surface.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Another little-known fact there is 3 times more water beneath the earth than is on the surface.

Cheers Foxy, that explains why they are looking under the Martian surface

 

[PerthRod]

Comets.

Or if you listen to the people round my parts, god did it just over 3000 years ago. 3 days after light, but the day before the sun (and no, they can’t explain that one to me. Photons must be another concept he created to test faith)

You'd think he would have created the sun first so he could see what the f**k he was doing !

 

[Twostage]

Comets.

Or if you listen to the people round my parts, god did it just over 3000 years ago. 3 days after light, but the day before the sun (and no, they can’t explain that one to me. Photons must be another concept he created to test faith)

Where did the comets get it from ?

I've started listening to 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' podcast with Brain Cox and Robin Ince. In an episode I was listening to recently Brian was talking about believing in something that doesn't stand up to scientific scrutiny. What he said was quite often it is easy to explain the central point but you then have to construct more and more implausible explanations for the implications of that central point. Someone on the panel said that humans have a desire for certainty, something they can understand whereas science is about the current least worst explanation .

 

[Alastair70]

It’s a long time since I watched the rather excellent Cosmos series. If I remember right, all atoms heavier than Iron are made by supernovae. Water comes from hydrogen and oxygen atoms made in either happy or exploding stars that have then reacted to form a water molecule. H and O atoms have a lower atomic mass and like each others company, so lots of water molecules get made. These can then coalesce in comets because of gravity.

@Twostage i did a bit of philosophy of science as part of a degree course in my undergrad days. It was really fascinating. One of the biggest challenges is coping with communicating the uncertainty that underpins how science works without undermining its credibility.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Where did the comets get it from ?

Well water Ice is pretty abundant in the Universe and Earth is not unique in having it within our solar system. The Kuiper Belt, just beyond Neptune, mainly consisting of chunks of Ice and where most of our comets originate from if they are knocked out and start to orbit the Sun, and that is the left over scraps of the building blocks that made the solar system, much like the asteroid belt. We don't need aliens or bodies originating from outside our solar system to explain this, and definitely no need for a God to explain the presence of H2O on Earth or the solar system. Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and Oxygen is the third most abundant so no reason to not to expect H2O is widely present in every nook and cranny of the universe. Its the presence of liquid water that is of real interest because our assumption is that wherever liquid water is present, so is life.

 

[Twostage]

We don't need aliens

Unless you're making star trek

 

[hoppyscotty]

Unless you're making star trek

True, but judging the current choice before us for the up and coming general election the aliens are already amongst us!