Since I broached the subject in another thread here and just got a bunch of smarta** answers, I thought I might have better in ATM.

So, I've seen speculation that since silicon and carbon are so similar (being next to each other in the same column of the periodic table)that silicon could also serve as a basis for life.

So, what would such a lifeform and its ecosystem be like? Obviously, educated speculation would work fine here. And please, no answers like "heavy" and "bay-watch."

This would be something very unusual maybe like this.
http://www.yowusa.com/Archive/Februa...5/image019.jpg

Some information about the chemistry and speculations:

http://www.angelfire.com/on2/davidda...iliconlife.htm

The common speculation is an environment very hostile to what we are used to. Some imagine ecosystems warm enough to melt iron. Others imagine forms that are so slow that every "breath" takes thousands of Earth-years. Some wonder if there could be silicon-based life right here on Earth, but deep underground under intense heat and pressure.

Not only that, but what about ecosystems based on electrical/mechanical instead of chemical? For example: self-replicating nano-robots designed and seeded by intelligent carbon-based forms using silicon semiconductors.

The universe is an intelligent being. It can take on any form that it wishes. It has taken on the form of our bodies, and our brain is a biological computer in which it is processing our consciousness program. It moves our bodies according to the motor program it is processing in our brain.
Carbon or Silicon, we are not a part of the universe but only a program in the mind of the universe.

The universe owes me a patch; I got stuck with some buggy code.

Silas

I've read that God created us from a clay ( 60 % SiO2 ) model ... [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
this also confirmed by some modern biologists, who think macro molecules could have developed on a clay substrate ...
God only knows, why he replaced Si with C [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Life "as we know it" cannot be silicon based. On the other hand, life "as we don't know it" could be just about anything, and all speculations are about equal. I once saw a paper which proposed life on the surface of a neutron star, where information is propagated by shifts in discontinuities in the crystal structure of the neutron star crust (as opposed to the more classical "molecular" based neutron star life forms Robert Forward used in his sci-fi novel Dragon's Egg).

Silicon is in the same column of the periodic table as is carbon, so they have the same outer electron structure, which leads to speculations on silicon based life. But silicon makes longer bonds than carbon, and significantly does not double bond. So when carbon & oxygen form CO₂, they are double bonded and the molecule is closed. However, when silicon & oxygen form SiO₂, there are two extra Si bonds hanging open, and it won't close until it becomes SiO₄, which is why silicon forms solid structures & crystals, where carbon forms liquids & gases.

I saw a crystal monster on Dr Who once, so it could be possible -double bonding or no-.

Of course, Dr Who also depicted an explosion in space as a big, fiery explosion with all of the pieces falling 'down'. Mind you, with their budget, what do you expect? Imagine what Lucas would do with it now!

Does silicon form long polymers like carbon? I'm not 100% on silicon chemistry but I think silicon has difficulty forming long chains. If so, then it would be unable to form silicon versions of most amino acids and other biological molecules. Silicon life would be very rudimentary at best.

I remember hearing about an old Star Trek episode where they run into a silicon-based creature called the Horta. Here's a link that talks about it.

http://www.70disco.com/startrek/horta.htm

__________________
Old laser physicists never die, they just become incoherent.
These days, every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks he knows what a photon is, but he is wrong. - Albert Einstein

The BBC Doctor Who series had a couple of videos based on silicon life forms...one was named Stones of Blood and based on Stonehenge...the other was named Hand of Fear, or something like that, and the silicon lifeofrm were very long lived.

The original Star Trek Series also had one: "Devil in the Dark," in which a silicon based life form was killing miners on Janus IV. They were puzzled at first because they scanned for life but found none. The problem was that the scanners could only detect carbon based life.

I think there was an early STTNG episode like that too.