In reply to RC Macaulay's message of Fri, 30 Dec 2005 21:20:47 -0600: Hi, [snip] >Prof. Chaplin's website recognizes the dependibility of water. We reside on a >water planet which is the only known such structure in the universe. The odds >of this occurence is beyond measure. [snip] Actually I suspect that water planets would be quite common, because Hydrogen is ubiquitous, and Oxygen a very stable nucleus, which means that it too is likely to be very common. In fact so common that it is the most common element on Earth, and likely also on most rocky planets. In other words worlds where water is present are likely to be in the majority, however the amount of water present will vary. If the planet has a seismic history, then much of that water will be on the surface, because gasses tend to vent during seismic activity, and hydrogen and oxygen are sure to combine chemically once they reach the surface, if not before.
Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
