Dr. Kerbal Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 What if in KSP2 there was a planet with no atmosphere, but with a CARBIN LIGIUD ocean! I think that would be see to cool. What do you think? Vote in the poll above! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxgurugamer Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 What is a carbon liquid ocean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Kerbal Posted July 14, 2021 Author Share Posted July 14, 2021 1 hour ago, linuxgurugamer said: What is a carbon liquid ocean? A carbon liquid ocean is an ocean made up of liquid carbon. Carbon will not liqiufy above 32C and under extreme pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dientus Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 Granted its Wikipedia but it's close enough... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_planet While it may be an interesting anamoly, I'm not sure how much of a difference gameplay wise it would be since one has not yet been discovered. I just don't really know if it would be worth devs time or not. Using guesswork, It appears that any carbon based liquid would be more viscous than standard water and not be easy to travel through, if at all. Visibility would be nil. I guess it could be interesting to visit as long as it didn't stick and solidify on the craft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxgurugamer Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 Sounds like crude oil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pthigrivi Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 (edited) I would also love to see something like Titan, with seas and clouds of methane and ethane. Edited July 14, 2021 by Pthigrivi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcwaffles2003 Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Dientus said: Granted its Wikipedia but it's close enough... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_planet A carbon planet doesn't have liquid carbon though, just more carbon than oxygen... Im pretty sure having a terrestrial planet with liquid carbon on the surface is essentially impossible. Liquid hydrocarbons sure... but just carbon? no... The surface would have to be over 4000 degrees kelvin and at least under100 atm of pressure, any visiting ship would melt just trying to approach it.... This idea seems unusually specific for no reason Edited July 14, 2021 by mcwaffles2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacke Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 23 hours ago, Dr. Kerbal said: A carbon liquid ocean is an ocean made up of liquid carbon. Carbon will not liqiufy above 32C and under extreme pressure. Do you perhaps mean Carbon Dioxide? As @mcwaffles2003 has pointed out, Carbon itself is liquid only at pressures and temperatures unlikely to be seen. As well, carbon tends to form compounds so it's unlikely to be seen en-mass in its elemental forms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmymcgoochie Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 Liquid carbon!? If you find it, run away! Liquid hydrocarbons, on the other hand, are not only possible but entirely real- Saturn’s moon Titan has methane (and ethane?) lakes on its surface and with a reasonable distance from a star and a suitably thick atmosphere to prevent them boiling off, they could very easily be found on a planet or moon in KSP2 as well. Liquid CO2 is feasible, but needs a combination of temperature and pressure that’s probably less common than for liquid hydrocarbons. CO2 is also less useful as a raw material for stuff like making rocket fuel and is both poisonous and an asphyxiant; whereas methane can be used in both chemical and nuclear thermal rockets and many chemical processes to generate more complex molecules, and isn’t toxic- though it is very explode-y if you mix it with oxygen and I still wouldn’t want to breathe the stuff for any period of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dientus Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said: whereas methane can be used in both chemical and nuclear thermal rockets and many chemical processes to generate more complex molecules, and isn’t toxic- though it is very explode-y if you mix it with oxygen and I still wouldn’t want to breathe the stuff for any period of time. I would hate to breathe methane since it's not a noble gas and breathing it without oxygen still results in asphyxiation the same as breathing only noble gases. It is, about, 30 times worse as a green house gas as well.... But the harvesting potentials!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmymcgoochie Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Dientus said: I would hate to breathe methane since it's not a noble gas and breathing it without oxygen still results in asphyxiation the same as breathing only noble gases. It is, about, 30 times worse as a green house gas as well.... But the harvesting potentials!!! Breathing pretty much anything without oxygen results in asphyxiation, but CO2 poisoning is very different physiologically than simple asphyxiation by breathing too little oxygen. It’s not the lack of oxygen that makes you want to breathe after holding your breath for a while, it’s the buildup of CO2 that does that- even single-digit percentages of CO2 in the air can rapidly cause problems and even single-digit percentages can be lethal or at least severely impair your performance; in contrast, breathing pure nitrogen or argon just makes you slow down and fall asleep without even noticing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubinator Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 It's worth noting that Venus has an "ocean" of supercritical carbon dioxide in the lower atmosphere. This is not liquid CO2 but it is similar, having properties of both liquid and gas. As for a liquid CO2 ocean, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't exist. It just needs the right temperature and pressure, much like our water oceans and Titan's methane lakes. A liquid carbon ocean would sit underneath an utterly inhospitable planet, you could send a drop probe over it but it would be destroyed long before touching the ocean. Better to just orbit from afar. It also wouldn't be possible with no atmosphere, as OP suggests. However, there ARE some liquids that would exist in extremely tenuous atmospheres such as the likes of Io, Pluto, and Triton. Mercury (the metal, not the planet) would remain liquid under such low pressures. These would be very interesting to explore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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