<p>It's clear that there is no water on Venus. But with temperatures hot enough to boil lead, well, couldn't there be pools of lead on the surface? Or pools of other things, like sulfur? Is there any evidence that these might in fact be present?</p>

<hr>

<p>Wikipedia's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Venus</a> lists the average surface temperature of 464 C (737 K) and the pressure at about 92 bar (9.2 MPa).</p>

<p>For lead and sulfur at 1 atmosphere, the melting points are</p>

<pre><code>            melting            boiling
sulfur   388 K ​ 115 °C       718 K   ​445 °C
lead     601 K  ​327 °C      2022 K ​ 1749 °C
</code></pre>

<p>In the search for life, it's assumed that liquid water is needed. Liquid, sure, but I wondered if it needed to be water. And I saw a video about silicon-based lifeforms. Unlikely, the conclusion was, because, as I recall, the p-orbitals are too small, so it can't form chains the way carbon does. But Venus (for one location) has higher temperatures and pressures than on Earth, and I wondered if that might squish things into reactions we don't see at STP.</p>

<p>All of that second paragraph isn't really part of the question, but that's what motivated me to ask.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T17:48:35.800Z
What research have you done?  Venus actually has been studied now and then.
Carl Witthoft
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-27T18:20:13.167Z
I've read about Venus now and then, and only ever seen it described as dry and desert-like. Haven't seen pools of anything mentioned. I've poked around for some keywords and didn't seem to find anything relevant. I've found phase diagrams of sulfur that were not well labeled, so I'm not sure where my point of interest is, but Venus is only about 30 degrees hotter than its boiling point at 1 atm. I haven't made that much of a research project out of it. Are you holding out on me?
Greg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-28T05:47:52.360Z
@Greg I've added some examples of some basic research that can be added to a question. Thought it's not required it does sometimes help.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-02T12:39:58.010Z
See this: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3367/UFNe.2018.12.038507
Nilay Ghosh
<life><venus><climate>
On Venus, what substances are likely to be found that are liquid in the temperatures and pressures and are there pools of the stuff?
Greg
# On Venus, what substances are likely to be found that are liquid in the temperatures and pressures and are there pools of the stuff?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-04-27)

It's clear that there is no water on Venus. But with temperatures hot enough to boil lead, well, couldn't there be pools of lead on the surface? Or pools of other things, like sulfur? Is there any evidence that these might in fact be present?

Wikipedia's Venus lists the average surface temperature of 464 C (737 K) and the pressure at about 92 bar (9.2 MPa).
For lead and sulfur at 1 atmosphere, the melting points are
            melting            boiling
sulfur   388 K ​ 115 °C       718 K   ​445 °C
lead     601 K  ​327 °C      2022 K ​ 1749 °C

In the search for life, it's assumed that liquid water is needed. Liquid, sure, but I wondered if it needed to be water. And I saw a video about silicon-based lifeforms. Unlikely, the conclusion was, because, as I recall, the p-orbitals are too small, so it can't form chains the way carbon does. But Venus (for one location) has higher temperatures and pressures than on Earth, and I wondered if that might squish things into reactions we don't see at STP.
All of that second paragraph isn't really part of the question, but that's what motivated me to ask.

**Tags:** life, venus, climate

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What research have you done?  Venus actually has been studied now and then.  
> **username_0**: I've read about Venus now and then, and only ever seen it described as dry and desert-like. Haven't seen pools of anything mentioned. I've poked around for some keywords and didn't seem to find anything relevant. I've found phase diagrams of sulfur that were not well labeled, so I'm not sure where my point of interest is, but Venus is only about 30 degrees hotter than its boiling point at 1 atm. I haven't made that much of a research project out of it. Are you holding out on me?  
> **username_2**: @username_0 I've added some examples of some basic research that can be added to a question. Thought it's not required it does sometimes help.  
> **username_3**: See this: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3367/UFNe.2018.12.038507  

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