Living things are based on carbon, so why can t they be made of silicon?

Si-Si chains of silanes and their substitutes are very unstable in the global environment. Compared with carbon, the electron cloud of silicon is large and scattered, and the covalent bonds formed with silicon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and chlorine are easily grabbed by the strong electronegative elements O, F, and easily become Si-O, Si-F bonds, resulting in the rapid disintegration of silicon-based molecules in a large amount of water and oxygen on the earth. For example, most silanes are hydrolyzed rapidly, and many will spontaneously ignite, following oxygen atoms to produce silica.

It's the same reason why phosphorus has so many fewer compounds than nitrogen.

The si-o-si-o silicon-oxygen structure is stable, but it is a little too stable, the reactivity is lower than that of the carbon chain (compare gasoline, grease and glass, silicone oil), and because there are twice the number of oxygen atoms, it will become very bloated, and the biochemical reaction steric hindrance is very large.

In other words, silicon compounds are either too stable or too unstable in the earth's environment to exhibit the same high diversity as carbon.

There are already tens of millions of carbon organic matter on record, which is no less than the total number of all other elements combined, and if you take into account the sequence differences of biological macromolecules, it is boundless (DNA is also organic molecules, and no two people or two flies have exactly the same DNA)) <

Carbon is very abundant in the universe, so it should be rare to have only silicon and no carbon, as a non-metallic element, carbon has a very outstanding advantage over silicon in the formation of flexible and stable macromolecular substances.

Life organisms with carbon as the main structure are called carbon-based organisms, and carbon is in the 6th position of the periodic table, which means that there are 4 free electrons in the outer shell of the carbon atom. Therefore, the reducibility and oxidation of carbon atoms are relatively strong, and it is easy to form some polymer substances with complex structures, such as genes, in life activities.

In addition to the formation of complex polymer substances, carbon-based life also has another characteristic, that is, in life activities, the chemical reaction speed in the body is very fast. For example, the photosynthesis of plants and the respiration of animals, these most basic metabolisms are completed through chemical reactions.

This ensures that carbon-based organisms have sufficient energy to carry out complex behaviors such as predation, reproduction, and so on. However, in such a warm and humid environment with abundant materials, carbon-based life can grow and develop, and the earth may be the only planet suitable for carbon-based life.

Outside the earth, there are many unknown environments, which may be dark and cold, high temperature and high pressure, acid rain baptism, and so on. Under such conditions, it is difficult for carbon-based life to survive, so only silicon-based life is likely to survive in such a harsh environment.

One of the greatest weaknesses of carbon-based life is its instability. Once affected by an extraneous high-frequency band, a sentence will be broken down. Therefore, almost all carbon-based life, including humans, are relatively fragile lifeforms, and the distribution of carbon-based life should be very limited in the face of the harsh environment in the universe.

Silicon-based life, on the other hand, has a relatively simple structure, so it does not need a very stable environment, which makes it possible for it to survive in harsh environments.

Silicon is easily combined with oxygen to form silica, and a miraculous phenomenon occurs where silicon-based life inhales oxygen and exhales solid. This makes silicon-based life seem strange, but under extreme conditions, it is much more resilient.

According to some related theories, if silicon-based life really exists, then the environment in which they live should be a high-temperature, high-pressure environment, and it will shine like glass. Since silicon reacts more slowly, it moves more slowly.

According to normal logic, it is difficult for a life organism that moves slowly and has a harsh living environment to surpass carbon-based organisms, but this does not rule out another possibility - silicon-based organisms evolved from carbon-based organisms.

The basic materials of life are different, carbon-based life is more complex, silicon-based organisms are relatively simple, and the nutrients required for survival are rarely able to survive in extreme environments, while carbon-based organisms cannot survive in extreme environments.

The life of carbon-based organisms is more fragile, the lifespan is limited, the chemical reaction in the body is very fast, the cells are easy to age, and the silicon-based organisms have a longer lifespan, the genes are more stable, and they can survive in extreme environments.

All living things on the earth are carbon-based organisms, that is, the constituent substances are based on the carbon chain, while silicon-based organisms do not exist, but scientists fantasize that the constituent substances of this kind of organisms are based on the silicon chain.

The composition of organisms is different, the cells of organisms are different, the genes of organisms are different, the components of genes of organisms are different, and the development of organisms is different.

It's hard to deny that in the apocalypse of the harsh environment, there will be no man-made silicon-based organisms doing some dangerous activities to sustain human livelihoods in place.

The difference between carbon-based organisms and silicon-based organisms: Carbon-based life is the basis of life of living organisms, while silicon-based life is existing outside of carbon-based life, etc.

1. Carbon-based life is the basis of life in living organisms, while silicon-based life exists outside carbon-based life.

2. Carbon-based life is complex and cannot survive outside the earth, while the structure of silicon-based life is very simple.

3. Carbon-based life is suitable for surviving under stable conditions, while silicon-based life is suitable for surviving under more extreme conditions.

Because the carbon atom has four free electrons, its ability to lose electrons (reducibility) and the ability to gain electrons (oxidation) are comparable, and because the carbon atom has only two electron shells, so the activity is stronger than the same group of silicon, germanium, tin, lead, the length of the carbon chain can vary from 2 to thousands, which makes the carbon skeleton become the basis of many kinds of organic compounds, so it can form complex and diverse polymer organic matter (such as DNA molecules), providing a material basis for the formation of life.

Introduction to Silicon-based Biology:

Silicon-based life refers to life composed of biomolecules with silicon skeleton, as opposed to carbon-based life. In 1891, the astrophysicist Julius Shennar described the possibility of silicon-based life, but with the development of inorganic chemistry, attempts to establish a silicon-hydrogen chemical system failed. Broadly speaking, artificial intelligence is also regarded by the public as "silicon-based life".

As long as it is a life form, it must collect, store, and utilize energy from the outside environment. In carbon-based organisms, the most basic compound that stores energy is carbohydrates. In carbohydrates, carbon atoms are linked into a chain by single bonds, and a series of oxidation steps controlled by enzymes release energy, and waste produces water and carbon dioxide.

Carbon-based organisms are organisms based on carbon as the basis of organic matter, and silicon-based organisms are organisms that scientists envision with silicon as the basis for organic matter.

All known organisms on Earth are carbon-based, including humans, based on carbon and water. Among the amino acids that make up carbon-based organisms, it is carbon that connects amino and carboxyl groups, so they are called carbon-based organisms. Carbon-based organisms are organisms that use the element carbon as the basis of organic matter.

All living things known on Earth are carbon-based, including humans, based on carbon and water.

Silicon-based life is cautious relative to carbon-based life. The so-called carbon-based life is rooted in the original concept of organic matter: substances that can only be produced by living organisms (organic matter now refers to carbon-containing compounds other than carbon-containing substances studied in inorganic chemistry, such as carbon-oxides, carbonyl-sulfides, carbonates, cyanides, carbides, thiocyanides, cyanates, carboranes, alkanes, carbonyls, metal-organic ligand complexes, etc.).

In the past, such substances known to mankind contained carbon; It was later proven that "organic matter" could be synthesized by chemical methods. Although "organic" has been used as a historical concept, people no longer regard carbon as an essential core element of life. As a result, "non-carbon-based life" with silicon, boron, or phosphorus as the core elements rather than carbon as the core elements has been proposed.

The biggest weakness of carbon-based life is that it is unstable and very easily broken down into carbon atoms by waves of high frequency. Therefore, carbon-based life is a relatively fragile life, but the distribution range of carbon-based life is still very wide. As we all know, there are many organisms in the world that are carbon-based carbon-based organisms, and the same is true for humans.

Carbon-based life is more complex, so it can form a lot of polymer organic matter.

Many people are questioning the question, that is, why is the search for extraterrestrial civilizations always based on the earth? I think many people have similar questions and put forward their own thoughts, thinking that the universe is so big that there are no wonders, and any kind of life can exist. But is that really the case?

Is it possible to transform into silicon-based organisms?

Many scientists believe that this is impossible, because no silicon-based organisms have been found in the universe so far.

But such a premature conclusion is also very arbitrary, and many science fiction ** are pondering the development of silicon-based animals.

In real life, the widespread application of computers and the vigorous development of artificial intelligence are all based on silicon-based biological evolution.

If computers can innovate and improve themselves once they have the ability to learn, then the instincts of many creatures will gradually form, and everything is possible.

In particular, the combination of carbon-based and silicon-based organisms is the way forward.

The implantation of a chip in the human body to improve and enhance certain functions is also an example of the integration of the two.

Don't start with a negative opinion, but keep exploring.