Origin of Life

Spontaneous Origin

Life on Earth had developed by itself through natural and chemical and physical processes

Divine creation

Many cultures believe that life was put on Earth by divine forces (relating to a g-d or g-ds)

How did Miller recreate the early energy sources?

Miller replicated these energy sources by heating the water to simulate volcanic activity and set off electric sparks to simulate lightning - violent thunderstorms

Most spheres would have what? Whats different about these ones?

Most spheres would have broken down quickly. But, those that were arranged into a stable structure as a lipid bilayer, like a cell membrane, would have lasted longer.

What would the energy sources found on Early Earth do?

The energy sources found on early Earth would excite the electrons of these chemicals causing them to combine to form organic molecules

What is the microsphere?

When fats, or phospholipids are put in water they will form tiny bubbles ore spheres. Phospholipids are the fatty layers that make up membranes in every cell. Scientists think that microspheres were the first step toward cellular organization

What was another problem with Miller's experiment?

With no oxygen in the atmosphere there would have been no ozone.

What would occur with no ozone?

With no ozone, UV-light would have broken up and destroyed any ammonia and methane present in the atmosphere. If these gasses were broken up; amino acids and other organic molecules would not be created

What does DNA carry the code for?

amino acids but it takes an enzyme to read and manufacture proteins from this code.

How old is Earth?

4.6 Billion years old

RNA is what compared to DNA?

A simpler molecule (RNA single strand/DNA double strand)

What would the nucleic acid surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer act as?

A structure for a simple replicating cell?

What are three ideas about the origins of life?

Extraterrestrial Divine creation Spontaneous Origin

PRIMORDIAL SOUP MODEL Who proposed it What was it

In 1920 a Russian scientists A.I. Oparin and British Scientist J.B.S Haldane proposed a hypothesis The Earth's oceans were once a soup containing large amounts of organic molecules.

RNA can store what and can act as what?

Informations for proteins (mRNA) and act like an enzyme to read and make proteins?

What do scientists believe above about RNA? Why

It could have taken over DNA;s job... RNA can form spontaneously in water that are filled with the three parts of a nucleic acid (sugar, base, phosphate).

What did Oparin along with American scientist Harold Urey believe?

Oparin along with American scientist Harold Urey thought the early Earth's atmosphere contained no oxygen

How long did Oprin and Haldane think that life would take to organize?

Oprin and Haldane thought that life could organize if given a long amount of time --- many millions of years.

Extraterrestrial

Origin of life from elsewhere in the universe other than Earth. Life carried here by an asteroid or a meteorite (probably from Mars)

Over millions of years, what would the organic molecules eventually do?

Over millions of years, these molecules would eventually organize themselves to form living matter.

What is "ozone"

Ozone protects the Earth from the sun's damaging ultraviolet light .

What is theorized about RNA?

RNA, not DNA was the first self-replicating, information storing molecule

What did Stanley miller do?

Stanley Miller tested this idea (Miller- Urey experiment). He built a glass apparatus that simulated early earth's atmosphere, using the chemicals common in prehistoric earth, and the energy source that caused these chemicals to react.

What recent discoveries have caused scientists to reevaluate Oprin's primordial soup model?

They found fossils microorganisms that dated back 3.5 billion years. This means that life must have originated much faster than previously assumed.

What did Oparin and Urey think early earth's atmosphere was made of?

They hypothesized that early atmosphere was rich in nitrogen and hydrogen gases along with other gases such as methane, ammonia and water vapor

What did the two scientist think about these organic molecules?

They thought these organic molecules needed to construct life formed spontaneously in chemical reactions activated by energy from solar radiation, volcanic eruptions and lightening

What would it mean if a microsphere were alive

This would mean that a molecule that stores information of how this microsphere is constructed must be contained inside.

When would microspheres be considered alive?

if they could make exact copies of themselves.

After a few days of doing Miller's experiment what was created? What did the results demonstrate?

life's basic building blocks: amino acids, nucleic acids, and fatty acids were created. These results demonstrated that some basic chemicals of life could have formed spontaneously under conditions like these.