Biology/Lab Honors - Nova: Origins Part II: How Life Began

Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House): Describe what "snottities" are made of:

A snottite is a colony of single-celled bacteria.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: Describe how the moon formed:

A sphere roughly the size of Mars hit Earth. The outer layers of our planet were vaporized, and the debris eventually joined together to create the Moon.

The Ocean: What was found living ear the volcanic vents?

All types of creatures, like microbes.

Chemistry and Life: What was produced as a result of this experiment?

Amino acids.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: What molecule was found in the meteorite that hit Australia?

Amino acids.

Chemistry and Life: Which one of those four elements is the single most important?

Carbon.

Photosynthesis: What are stromatolites?

Domed structures built up over thousands of years by microbes.

Chemistry and Life: What were the three parts of experiment that Stanley Miller setup to imitate ancient Earth?

First, he filled a flask with gases, and another full of water. Finally, he put an electric charge through the flasks to act as lightning.

Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House): What does this gas smell like?

Rotten eggs.

Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House): What is formed when hydrogen sulfide gas reacts with water?

Sulfuric acid.

Photosynthesis: Once the bombardment was over, what were bacteria able to use as a source of energy?

Sunlight, by creating chlorophyll. They used photosynthesis.

Ancient Earth: Describe differences between Earth of today, and ancient Earth: Color:

The Earth was red colored, and the oceans would have been the color of green olives.

Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House): What about this environment makes it so harsh and extreme?

The acidity of the cave.

Photosynthesis: How did the composition of the atmosphere change as these bacteria grew?

The atmosphere became slowly filled with oxygen from less than one percent to twenty-one percent. It also created an ozone layer.

Chemistry and Life: Why is this element so unusual and unique?

The bonds that it creates, with other carbon atoms and other atoms. There are no other known atoms that have the same flexibility to form different compounds.

What was the heavy bombardment?

The heavy bombardment was a time consisting of strikes from comets and asteroids.

Photosynthesis: Why were bacteria and oxygen so important to the development to the rest of the life on Earth?

The oxygen changed the atmosphere, which enabled the creation of multicellular organisms.

Geology and Life: If the ancient rocks in Greenland are too old to contain fossils, how are they tested to see if life existed at that time?

The scientists look for chemical fingerprints of microbes, and such. They look for carbon in the rocks, a specific type found in living creatures.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: What was found in the space dust collected in the outer atmosphere?

The seeds of life, and lots of them. Minerals and organic materials that are billions of years old.

Ancient Earth: Describe differences between Earth of today, and ancient Earth: The sun:

The sun was quite weak, and its rays were barely visible from the surface of Earth.

Ancient Earth: Describe differences between Earth of today, and ancient Earth: The atmosphere:

The thick atmosphere was full of carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide fumes.

Spontaneous Generation: Why did scientists at the time believe this created life?

They saw the creatures around the filth and rotting, but not how they came to be there. Therefore, they assumed that the critters had just spontaneously been formed.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: What happened to the amino acids in the simulated collision experiment?

They survived and turned into a new compound. They had fused into peptides.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: What would have happened if the building blocks of life existed during this collision?

They would have been wiped out.

Underground: If there is no sunlight underground, what are the bacteria using as a source of energy?

They would use chemical energy from water and minerals trapped in the rocks.

The Ocean: Could life have survived near the ocean floor in ancient Earth?

Yes, that is possible.

Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the Lighted House): What is the gas present in this cave that is poisonous to us?

Hydrogen sulfide.

Chemistry and Life: What are the four elements that make up life?

Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen.

Spontaneous Generation: Describe the ancient recipe for creating life:

If you take a soiled article of clothing and place it into a container, after sitting for twenty-one days, mice will just appear.

Photosynthesis: What happened to this waste gas after it was absorbed by the oceans?

It combined with iron, and created iron oxide chemicals.

Underground: Could life have survived deep below the surface of ancient Earth?

It quite possibly could have.

Photosynthesis: If all of Earth's history was compressed into 24 hours, how long have humans been around?

Less than thirty seconds.

Photosynthesis: What are cyanobacteria?

Microscopic blue-green bacteria that use photosynthesis and secrete a coating to protect themselves from radiation.

Photosynthesis: What was the waste gas produced by this bacteria?

Oxygen.

Chemistry and Life: Amino acids are a building block of _____.

Proteins and cells.

Organic Molecules and Outer Space: What can peptides make?

Proteins, which make up cells.