Search

...solids, with the exception of mercury which is a liquid. There are also chemical criteria that help distinguish metals from non-metals as you will see later. Table 1 includes some qualitative and quantitative data for a range of metals. It also includes the non-metallic element sulfur for comparison. Table 1 Typical data for some common metallic elements and the...

...liquid water sandwiched between the two. Cassini discovered back in 2005 that Enceladus is venting water into space, in the form of plumes of ice crystals escaping from cracks in the surface. For a decade, Enceladus was the only icy moon where this was known to happen, but plumes have recently been found on Europa, too, a larger icy moon of Jupiter. Cassini’s discovery...

...liquid water, and an energy source, and Enceladus meets all three of these requirements. Looking at extreme environments such as these allows us to investigate theories into the origin of life and whether or not life elsewhere is possible. Ideally, we’d like to know more about what is in the ocean. However, it is currently impossible to drill several kilometres through...