Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Boil away the oceans so they don't come back

Inspired by "Base Delta Zero", consider the task of even more thoroughly destroying life on a planet including "boiling" away the oceans so they don't come back via precipitation. The key is hydrogen (aptly Greek for "source of water"). After breaking water down to hydrogen and oxygen, the hydrogen will naturally evaporate into space never to return because its thermodynamic velocity exceeds the Earth's escape velocity (I think).

Electrolysis is the straightforward way. Some gut bacteria can produce hydrogen.

Energy computation.

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