(December 17, 2009 at 5:50 pm)littlegrimlin1 Wrote: Does that mean, that all of the water on the planet boils? lol How would we get there? Have a spacecraft travel there suited to encompass life for many generations before arrival?
But yet, an awesome blossom find for science!
The article said, "Berta said some of the water would likely be in crystalline form that exists at pressures greater than 20,000 times Earth's sea-level atmosphere."
I'm not sure if the article is saying that the planets atmospheric pressure is 20,000 times Earth, but if that is the case then the water has a possibility of not boiling. Liquids boil when their vapor pressure equals atmospheric, so the water's vapor pressure (influenced by temperature) would have to be really high. I'm not sure of the calculation for the boiling point off the top of my head.
