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Carbon-based life — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-10-06T16:27:40.820Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 913dc821c86d067bf05b254641783f2b91f596f52ee15844264f5fce5a90bf5c
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_eaed7ba83fc2

How to cite

Carbon-based life — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_eaed7ba83fc2 (Metraipolis archive dc_eaed7ba83fc2, sha256 913dc821c86d067bf05b254641783f2b91f596f52ee15844264f5fce5a90bf5c)

BibTeX

@misc{dceaed7ba83fc2,
  title = {Carbon-based life — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_eaed7ba83fc2; sha256 913dc821c86d067bf05b254641783f2b91f596f52ee15844264f5fce5a90bf5c},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

Carbon-based life is the concept that carbon is the core element for all known forms of life, and a core component of all complex biological molecules with carbon representing approximately 45–50% of all dry biomass. Complex biological molecules consist of carbon atoms bonded with other elements, in particular oxygen and hydrogen but frequently also nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur (collectively known as CHNOPS). In these molecules carbon's four valence electrons and subsequent propensity to form four bonds lends to its function as the "skeleton" of organic molecules. In addition to molecular level properties of carbon, life on Earth also relies on large scale processes known as the carbon cycle, involving geological and atmospheric processes. While it is widely believed that any life found elsewhere in the universe will most likely also be carbon-based, silicon and boron have been discussed as alternatives because of their abilities to form 4 or 5 bonds respectively. These possibilities have resulted in science-fiction literature stories that include life based on silicon or boron or other alternative elements.

Tema degli esploratori: scienze della vita e salute (deposito sistematico; categoria «Molecular biology»).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «Carbon-based life» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life
Wikidata Q4215735 (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4215735
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-based_life?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1370879976, consultata il 2026-10-06T15:17:18.478Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: 2db02592f4885782905f7481d4f33db1b1d57e9e997e622c6494c40350f86cda