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LisaPecher's profile
Lisa Pecher
Lisa Pecher
Lisa Pecher
@LisaPecher

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Lisa Pecher

@LisaPecher

Editor at @angew_chem (Wiley-VCH/GDCh). Trained computational chemist. Advocate for equity in science. Also a musician. Views are my own. trans (she/her) 🏳️‍🌈

Mannheim, Germany
Joined February 2020

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    Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

    So #phosphine/phosphane/PH3 was found in the atmosphere of Venus and people are speculating whether this implies the existence of microbial life in Venus's atmosphere. What's the chemistry behind this? I'll try to explain in a way that's also understandable for non-chemists 1/13

    10:56 AM - 14 Sep 2020
    • 695 Retweets
    • 1,850 Likes
    • Balquis Guada Padin Rojas Sherrie Dominic Hildebrandt (he/him) al ✿ Concerned bioinformatician 🐼सुरजीत🐼 AMC 🤍 The Scottie Agenda ❤
    27 replies 695 retweets 1,850 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        One Earth, the most common phosphorus (P) compounds contain oxygen, like phosphate, which is present in many minerals and also seawater and fresh water. P compounds without oxygen are pretty reactive in an oxygen atmosphere. 2/13

        2 replies 8 retweets 121 likes
        Show this thread
      3. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        Elementary P and also PH3 have the hazard warnings flammable, toxic, corrosive, and environmental hazard. Dangerous stuff for most Earthlings! 3/13

        1 reply 6 retweets 101 likes
        Show this thread
      4. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        How do we synthesize PH3? Under oxygen-free conditions, you can put elementary P (or certain other P-containing compounds) and molecular hydrogen (H2) together. Above a certain temperature (>800 K), the chemical equilibrium favors the formation of PH3. 4/13

        3 replies 6 retweets 109 likes
        Show this thread
      5. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        This happens, for example, in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, where PH3 was also detected. There's more than enough H2 and at a certain altitude, the temperature is high enough. 5/13

        1 reply 5 retweets 110 likes
        Show this thread
      6. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        BUT: On Earth, we can also find traces of PH3 in certain oxygen-poor environments where it is produced by anaerobic bacteria from environmental phosphorus at reasonable temperatures. How do they do it? 6/13

        2 replies 5 retweets 120 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        Nobody knows yet, but this is very interesting from a biochemical point of view: Remember that PH3 is very flammable in an oxygen atmosphere? The reaction, leading to phosphoric acid, releases a lot of energy. The reverse reaction *requires* this energy to proceed. 7/13

        3 replies 6 retweets 125 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        The generation of PH3 requires either a lot of energy or high temperatures in most (all?) cases we know of, except for that bacterial metabolism. Those bacteria seem to have found another way. 8/13

        3 replies 5 retweets 112 likes
        Show this thread
      9. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        There are also other photochemical/atmospheric-chemical pathways, but none favor the production of PH3 under the environmental conditions in Venus's atmosphere. It is simply not hot enough. 9/13

        4 replies 5 retweets 108 likes
        Show this thread
      10. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        So: All non-bio chemical pathways we know that generate PH3 don't really work under the conditions in Venus's atmosphere. The only one we know that is left is the metabolism of anaerobic bacteria. But does that mean that we found an indication for microbial life on Venus? 10/13

        2 replies 15 retweets 157 likes
        Show this thread
      11. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        All science is based on experience and it's hard to imagine something we have never experienced. There might be chemical pathways leading to PH3 that we just don't know yet. But this is a great opportunity for atmospheric chemistry to explore possible alternative pathways! 11/13

        4 replies 12 retweets 197 likes
        Show this thread
      12. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        It is also a great opportunity for biochemistry to investigate the bacterial metabolism in more detail and figure out the reaction mechanism. This and a thorough investigation of Venus's atmosphere will allow us to determine whether the PH3 was produced by bacteria or not. 12/13

        3 replies 14 retweets 149 likes
        Show this thread
      13. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        All in all, this is an exciting discovery, not only for astronomy but also for chemistry! I am looking forward to all the upcoming research inspired by this 😊 13/13

        5 replies 7 retweets 243 likes
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      14. Lisa Pecher‏ @LisaPecher 14 Sep 2020

        Sources/further reading: "Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus": https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1174-4 … "Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres": https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2018.1954 …https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.05224 

        11 replies 24 retweets 185 likes
        Show this thread
      15. End of conversation

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