02-22-2021, 11:23 AM
Re: Ragnorokian worlds, Phoenixian worlds and elemental enrichment,
So in addition to ragnorkian worlds, those which survive the death of their star, there are also phoenixian worlds, which form around stellar remnants. In addition to these, it is also possible for worlds in adjacent systems, or even entire star forming molecular clouds, to be seeded in the elements produced. This would be most common for very high mass stars, which often die while still inside star forming regions.
Going a bit further, what elements are enriched will depend on what star(s) died:
- Around white dwarfs, planets will be as described by Steve. They would be rich in carbon, nitrogen, and some heavier elements. Because of the non-violent deaths producing white dwarfs, this material might not have much of an impact on neighboring systems.
- Supernovae from massive stars don't seem like they'd result in very unusual compositions, besides possibly being metal poor. Giving the presence of Al26 in the early solar system, a short lived isotope of aluminium, it seems like our own solar system is an example of a system enriched by a supernova from a high mass star to some extent. It should be noted that for any planets present around the high mass star, assuming they survive, they would most likely be ejected into interstellar space, so some weird Stevensonian and Odyssian may also exist (albeit very rarely).
- Supernovae from white dwarfs, either by accreting material from a donor star, or by the collision of two white dwarfs, should be enriched in things like iron, nickel, sulfur, and calcium produced in the supernova, as well as carbon and oxygen already present in the white dwarf(s). As far as I'm aware, this is most likely the type of enrichment that should be seem in the Lich system, as it seems the most conducive to forming a second wave of planets.
- Merging neutron stars will enrich nearby systems with heavy elements, particularly in the platinum group. This would also be where you would most likely see the production of superheavy elements and/or various types of quark matter. Because this can affect other systems more easily, this is probably the source of heavy elements found on Samael.
Re: Super heavy elements on planets around stellar remnants,
From what I can tell, estimates for isotopes in the island(s) of stability range from mere minutes potentially all the way up to millions of years, with the upper bound seeming to be quite optimistic. Adopting the optimistic upper bound, all of these super heavy elements will be all but completely gone less than 50 million years, too short to be noteworthy in any way. Other conjectured islands of stability at higher atomic numbers also seem to have either similar, or shorter half-lives.
There is also a possible "continent of stability" but that pertains to quark matter rather than nuclear matter, and as such is really a whole different creature. There isn't a lot of literature of this variety of quark matter though, so its hard to say anything concrete about it.
Re: Biospheres incorporating heavy and/or super-heavy elements,
Something to keep in mind is that even if certain elements are present, they may not be beneficial for an organism. But I agree that its weird that the only example of molybdenum biology. You'd expect that for there to be a sophont variety of this type, there's be dozens of similar worlds with non sophont life.
Hope this helps
So in addition to ragnorkian worlds, those which survive the death of their star, there are also phoenixian worlds, which form around stellar remnants. In addition to these, it is also possible for worlds in adjacent systems, or even entire star forming molecular clouds, to be seeded in the elements produced. This would be most common for very high mass stars, which often die while still inside star forming regions.
Going a bit further, what elements are enriched will depend on what star(s) died:
- Around white dwarfs, planets will be as described by Steve. They would be rich in carbon, nitrogen, and some heavier elements. Because of the non-violent deaths producing white dwarfs, this material might not have much of an impact on neighboring systems.
- Supernovae from massive stars don't seem like they'd result in very unusual compositions, besides possibly being metal poor. Giving the presence of Al26 in the early solar system, a short lived isotope of aluminium, it seems like our own solar system is an example of a system enriched by a supernova from a high mass star to some extent. It should be noted that for any planets present around the high mass star, assuming they survive, they would most likely be ejected into interstellar space, so some weird Stevensonian and Odyssian may also exist (albeit very rarely).
- Supernovae from white dwarfs, either by accreting material from a donor star, or by the collision of two white dwarfs, should be enriched in things like iron, nickel, sulfur, and calcium produced in the supernova, as well as carbon and oxygen already present in the white dwarf(s). As far as I'm aware, this is most likely the type of enrichment that should be seem in the Lich system, as it seems the most conducive to forming a second wave of planets.
- Merging neutron stars will enrich nearby systems with heavy elements, particularly in the platinum group. This would also be where you would most likely see the production of superheavy elements and/or various types of quark matter. Because this can affect other systems more easily, this is probably the source of heavy elements found on Samael.
Re: Super heavy elements on planets around stellar remnants,
From what I can tell, estimates for isotopes in the island(s) of stability range from mere minutes potentially all the way up to millions of years, with the upper bound seeming to be quite optimistic. Adopting the optimistic upper bound, all of these super heavy elements will be all but completely gone less than 50 million years, too short to be noteworthy in any way. Other conjectured islands of stability at higher atomic numbers also seem to have either similar, or shorter half-lives.
There is also a possible "continent of stability" but that pertains to quark matter rather than nuclear matter, and as such is really a whole different creature. There isn't a lot of literature of this variety of quark matter though, so its hard to say anything concrete about it.
Re: Biospheres incorporating heavy and/or super-heavy elements,
Something to keep in mind is that even if certain elements are present, they may not be beneficial for an organism. But I agree that its weird that the only example of molybdenum biology. You'd expect that for there to be a sophont variety of this type, there's be dozens of similar worlds with non sophont life.
Hope this helps