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POTW 24: Chlorine Planet

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This week's Planet of the Week is a bit different. I wanted to do something with a more interesting color scheme for once and I've already done several ammonia planets, so I figured why not chlorine? A planet abundant in chlorine is really, really, really, really, really unlikely, but not necessarily impossible. My best guess would be that a planet like this would form sometime much later in the life of the universe when a couple more generations of stars have come and gone and there would be regions with higher concentrations of heavier elements. It's nominally Earth-like, but the planet's water has high concentrations of hydrochloric acid. Life has evolved to cope with this by utilizing it in it's own form of photosynthesis: organisms take in hydrochloric acid from the water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into formaldehyde (which they use to create organic compounds as nutrients) and chlorine gas which other organisms rely on for respiration, though they also require oxygen. The atmosphere has a yellow-greenish haze and the clouds have a yellowish tinge to them as the water vapor interacts with the chlorine gas to produce hydrochloric acid rain. The oceans have a greenish color to them from iron and other minerals being slowly dissolved by the high acid concentrations and also boast high levels of salinity. This planet's ecosystem is no where near as developed or diverse as Earth's and is incredibly unstable.

Honestly I'm not sure a planet like this is even possible given how rare and reactive natural chlorine is, but it was a lot of fun to make and think about. I had considered a fluorine planet but unfortunately fluorine is even more rare and reactive than chlorine is.
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Hispanoamericano2000's avatar
One of the most fascinating powers (types of terrestrial planet) that can come into existence, especially when chlorine is a highly reactive gas and quite scarce next to oxygen.
It makes you wonder what kind of life form could exist in a biosphere with high concentrations of chlorine in the atmosphere and / or bodies of water.
This also made me think a bit about Jool, the gas giant of the Kerbol system in KSP.