Voyage to the bottom of the sea
Susan Humphris explores the Atlantic’s hydrothermal vents
Swirling and swishing at the bottom of the ocean is the world’s coolest chemistry lab. It doesn’t have any Bunsen burners, test tubes or condensers. Instead, you will witness a churning concoction of chemicals produced as hot magma emerges from undersea vents and mixes with the frigid water. Here, in perpetual darkness, you will find copper and zinc and other chemicals, as well as extensive nurseries for and graveyards of creatures who depend on these rips in the basement rocks and their exhaled compounds for sustenance.