Timeline for Is a water world possible, and for how long could it be stable?
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 10, 2011 at 20:13 | comment | added | Pete Jackson | The permanent tide would mean that the portions of the ocean directly facing the sun and the partions on the opposite side would be always a bit further from the center of the Earth. No significant consequences would be noticed on the planet. The earth's magnetic field blocks out the cosmic rays much more than the atmosphere does. I edited to clarify "inner part" to mean "inner part of the habitable zone". | |
| Aug 10, 2011 at 15:38 | comment | added | Omega Centauri | I have doubts the climate would remain stable, over a timescale of a few million years. The problem is the carbonate, silicate cyle, which works as a rough planetary thermostat. Supposedly silicates weathering to carbonates requires water, but won't take place underwater. CO2 is liberated from carbonate rocks via volcanism, which produces silicate rocks. Weathering of silicates allows them to combine with CO2 to form carbonates, and reduce atmospheric CO2. Since the weathering rate goes up with temperature, a sort of planetary thermostat effect results. Without land CO2 would just build up. | |
| Aug 10, 2011 at 10:31 | comment | added | Clinton Z | Oh, and I'm also having trouble visualizing the inner and outer parts and what would be frozen. Any ideas how to better explain it? I guess it has to do with the inner part and dark side, not really sure where that is. Thanks so much for your valuable time. | |
| Aug 10, 2011 at 10:22 | comment | added | Clinton Z | Thanks for the excellent replies. I do have a question, though. What do you mean by permanent and unmoving tides? What would this look like? Also, how significant would the ocean current from unequal heating be? And wouldn't the atmosphere, not the magnetic field, block out the solar wind/other ionizing radiations? | |
| Aug 10, 2011 at 9:06 | history | answered | Pete Jackson | CC BY-SA 3.0 |