Fluorine Lifeforms – Creatures of the Halogen Seas

Comments · 218

• PE

  @peterallen5575 · 1 month ago (edited)

  &quot;So you&apos;re saying that you were attacked by a creature the size and shape of a stealth bomber with ballistic ceramic scales, that sweats glass and is propelled by air-breathing rocket farts that project 150-foot flames?&quot;<br><br>&quot;I told you you wouldn&apos;t believe me, sir.&quot;<br><br><b>—excerpt from Unity Starfleet exploration mission of exoplanet Upsilon Fornacis 6 debrief. Fleet command decided against extracting its perfluorocarbon oceans for use in high-G acceleration protection systems as a liquid breathing medium</b>

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• 20

  @2013Arcturus · 1 month ago

  Pump the &quot;alternative to Carbon lifeforms&quot; videos into my veins!

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• AN

  @annoyed707 · 1 month ago

  Fluorine planet residents would unironically sign a petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide.

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• AS

  @Asankeket · 1 month ago

  You just gave me new ideas for my SF roleplaying campaign. &quot;You want to explore this world? Well, none of the equipment you have is even close to suitable&quot;

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• CU

  @CuriousAlpha2026 · 1 month ago

  The idea of a Hydrogen Fluoride (HF) ocean world around a tidally locked red dwarf is peak exoplanetary physics. In those twilight zones, you&apos;re pairing extreme stellar UV flares with low-temperature chemical kinetics, meaning any emergent biology has to deal with massive radiation shocks on top of corrosive HF seas. It’s a great reminder that when we hunt for biosignatures, we shouldn&apos;t just look for &quot;Earth 2.0,&quot; but for extreme geochemical balances on outer moons and rogue planets.

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• SK

  @SKy_the_Thunder · 1 month ago

  Flourine-powered organic mining could create a nutrient cycle incorporating tectonic activity. A colony of organisms mines throughout the bedrock of a region, making it porous in the process and weakening it over time. This creates weak spots in the crust, which are more likely to crack during tectonic activities, creating igneous provinces where massive lava flows evaporate the accumulated indigestible remains, freeing up their flourine content again.

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• KJ

  @KJRUSS0 · 1 month ago

  Alien Government: [Start putting trace amounts water in the tap flouride]<br><br>Alex Stones: &quot;THEY&apos;RE PUTTING CHEMICALS IN THE FLOURIDE THAT ARE TURNING FREAKING CERAMIC FROGS GAY!!!&quot;

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• IS

  @isatousarr7044 · 1 month ago

  hydrogen fluoride ocean world would be one of the strangest places imaginable: a planet where the sea itself is a weapon, the rocks are nourishment, and every living creature carries a miniature controlled explosion inside its body.

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• AE

  @AeronHale · 1 month ago

  Florine dragons sound like an extraplanar encounter for epic level characters seeking the to hunt the most dangerous prey imaginable.

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• TH

  @the_Carthaginian1 · 1 month ago

  I&apos;m reminded of the infamous line from &quot;IGNITION!&quot; by John D Clark:<br><br>&quot;It [fluorine] is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.&quot;

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• GU

  @GuffinMcGuffin · 1 month ago (edited)

  There is soviet sci-fi novel Cor Serpentis (1958) about aliens from a planet where fluorine plays the role of the oxygen.

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• SA

  @samueltrustum · 1 month ago

  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTH2b5XKCLo&amp;t=1183">19:43</a> the best way to remember, this is simply to say that your candy bar has &nbsp;more energy than a stick of dynamite (you were just released the energy from a candy bar more gradually than what a stick of dynamite does when it explodes.)

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