Thread by @DrPhiltill

Gorgeous waterfalls we saw yesterday. Can’t help the visceral reaction: dang, how long can this go on until the mountaintop is out of water? 😅

⬆️This is an example why the Geophysical Planet Definition makes so much sense. Complex geological things like waterfalls only happen if there is the right amount of gravity. Too little and the body cannot retain volatiles. Too much and it ignites with nuclear fusion as a star./2

3/ Not all planets have waterfalls of course. Not all can retain volatiles at the surface. The unifying theme is the conditions for emergent complexity, which usually means valence shell chemistry since that is where the cosmos has the most potential to blossom in complexity.

4/ That is analogous to the cosmos’ potential to ignite in nuclear fusion, which is nuclear physics, which is the defining essence of stars. So also, the cosmos has potential to blossom in complexity from valence shell chemistry, which derives from quantum mechanics. (Wiki/Geek3)

5/ Just as stars only bloom into existence when the gravity is correct to create thermodynamic conditions to drive fusion, so planets only bloom into existence when gravity is correct to create thermodynamic conditions to drive complex valence shell physics. (NASA/Ames/Caltech)

6/ So in this case, a lot of water is retained on Earth’s surface. The conditions on this particular planet enable phase change between liquid, solid, and vaporous water. That produces constant transport of water back to mountaintops (so they don’t run out 😅).

7/ The reason why there *is* such a thing as phase change in nature between ice, liquid water, and vapor is because molecules form by atoms strongly bonding together while those molecules attract each other only weakly.

8/ This all derives directly from Quantum Mechanics acting between the types of particles that exist in the cosmos. But the liquid state of water depends on those *very* weak forces, which could never survive anywhere in the cosmos unless there is the correct warmth and pressure.

9/ More generally, a wide range of complex molecular interactions can blossom in a certain size range of bodies in space, including the formation of many different minerals and rocks, floatation of the lighter ones as a crust, and subsequent plate tectonics creating mountains.

10/ So when the phase change of water from liquid to vapor back to liquid occurs, some of it ends up on the tops of mountains making waterfalls. And SOOO many other gorgeous, amazing things happening planets! (Iceland: 2ndcyclesanjose.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/ice…)

11/ So that’s the kind of thing I think about when we hike to waterfalls. I’m amazed how the beauty that is latent in quantum mechanics never really comes out of hiding until you have a planet. Planets are the full-blooming of the amazing potential of nature.