Question:

What type of creature could survive on earth if earth did not have an atmosphere?

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I need to sketch what type of creature could live on earth if it did not have an atmosphere for science class. I was thinking that it would have thick skin, and live under ground where it would not be as affected by the extreme weather as on the surface - What else would it be like, can anyone please suggest?

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  1. nothing would survive, only an Alain could survive maybe if it did not need air


  2. I think it would be very small.  An anaerobic bacterium, perhaps.

  3. Pretty much any creature from the deep ocean could exist without an atmosphere.

    Scientists are looking hard at moons on Jupiter and Saturn, where there is no atmosphere, but liquid oceans are buried under hundreds or even thousands of feet of ice.  We have creatures here on Earth that live by superheated gas vents, warming the water in the depths of the ocean.  So...a fish, bacteria...something like that....

  4. One that "breathed" by direct contact with solid surface material.  Most of the Earth (and the Moon, for that matter) is composed of silica (silicon dioxide, quartz).  Suppose your "creature" could slide around on the rocks and secrete a chemical that would decompose the SiO2 to liberate O2.  The O2 would dissolve in the pseudopod / breathing apparatus.

    The catch is that for an organism to exist without an atmosphere, it would have to be sealed inside a very strong exoskeleton or skin, so that it could maintain the pressures of the gases which are in equilibrium with the fluids inside the organism.

    ======== Follow up =========

    Any organism that requires a body of water in which to exist could not exist on a planet without an atmosphere.  That's because there could be NO body of water on a planet without an atmosphere.  The liquid would boil away, even at extremely low temperatures, to form an atmosphere or to be lost from the planet which is what happened on Mars.

    Also, if this organism which lived in the water did require a dissolved gas in order to live (like O2, for instance) then there must be O2 gas in the atmosphere.  But since there is no atmosphere, then there is no O2 gas and no dissolved oxygen.  But that's OK because there could be no liquid water without an atmosphere.

  5. Basically, you are talking about a virus.

    Without an atmosphere, anything with something like pores or skin would dry out, or freeze.

    On a planet with no atmosphere whatsever, there is no weather, although there is temperature by solar radiation, unless it is a rogue planet in deep space, outside a solar system.

    It's near absolute zero, on the dark side, and heat on the day side would depend on proximity to the local star.

    A virus, I am pretty sure, I've read can exist in vacuum, as a freeze dried organism, dormant, until it finds water.

    It would have to be something simple, as amino acids break down, from radiation, pretty sure.

    If earth did not have an atmosphere, all of the oceans would evaporate into space by boiling away, over a period of centuries.

    I think the point of the question / assignment is not so much the drawing, as the investigation of how lucky we are to have air on Earth, and to explore the possible options as to how non carbon-based life could have evolved.

    A good question. Good luck.

    Maybe one day you'll write science fiction.

  6. yeah, maybe a kind of insect. if earth didn't have an atmosphere, can it still breathe?

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