Drake Equation: Difference between revisions

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* formulated in 1961 by Dr. Frank Drake
* formulated in 1961 by Dr. Frank Drake
N = R* * fp * f1 * fi * fc * L
<blockquote>'''''<big>N = R<sub>*</sub> • ƒ<sub>p</sub> •  n<sub>e</sub> • ƒ<sub>1</sub> •  ƒ<sub>i</sub> •  ƒ<sub>c</sub> • L</big>'''''


'''''<big>R<sub>*</sub></big>''''' = the average rate of star formation in our Galaxy


'''''<big>ƒ<sub>p</sub></big>'''''  = the fraction of those stars that have planets
'''''<big>n<sub>e</sub></big>''''' = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
'''''<big>ƒ<sub>1</sub></big>''''' = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
'''''<big>ƒ<sub>i</sub></big>''''' = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations)
'''''<big>ƒ<sub>c</sub></big>''''' = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
'''''<big>L</big>''''' = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space
from [[wikipedia:Drake_equation#Equation|Drake Equation (wikipedia)]]</blockquote>
* Drake's estimate:
<blockquote>'''''R''<sub>∗</sub>''' = 1 yr<sup>−1</sup> (1 star formed per year, on the average over the life of the galaxy; this was regarded as conservative)
'''''f''<sub>p</sub>''' = 0.2 to 0.5 (one fifth to one half of all stars formed will have planets)
'''''n''<sub>e</sub>''' = 1 to 5 (stars with planets will have between 1 and 5 planets capable of developing life)
'''''f''<sub>l</sub>''' = 1 (100% of these planets will develop life)
'''''f''<sub>i</sub>''' = 1 (100% of which will develop intelligent life)
'''''f''<sub>c</sub>''' = 0.1 to 0.2 (10–20% of which will be able to communicate)
'''''L''''' = 1000 to 100,000,000 communicative civilizations (which will last somewhere between 1000 and 100,000,000 years)
= between 1000 and 100,000,000 planets with civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy</blockquote>
* [[wikipedia:Fermi_paradox|Fermi paradox]]
** in 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi casually thought up the paradox that, if extraterrestrial life is so probable (likely), then we would have encountered it by now
*** "But where is everybody?" Fermi asked
* a 2018 paper called, "[https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02404 Dissolving the Fermi Paradox]" concluded that the probability of intelligent life outside of earth is unlikely
** the authors incorporated additional models of chemical and genetic transitions into life
*** thus we should not be surprised by Fermi's conclusion, "But where is everybody?"
</blockquote>


[[Category:Cool stuff]]
[[Category:Cool stuff]]