Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Malik 2
essential carbon-containing molecules that were required to form sugars,
amino acids, & nitrogenous bases.
This would have resulted in the formation of organic preliminary molecules.
Conclusion: Therefore, small organic molecules capable of becoming simple cell like
structures were formed in the earths atmosphere and hydrothermal vents. Millers
experiment produced 11 out of 20 amino acids required for simple cell-like
structures to develop. Therefore, amino acids could have also formed in the early
conditions of the Earth. Millers experiments also resulted with the formation of
monosaccharides, sugars required to link with amino acids & proteins, were
produced eventually leading to complex organic molecules capable of selfreplication. Furthermore in Millers experiments purines A & G synthesized from the
reactions of hydrogen cyanide, supporting the hypothesis that nucleotides did form,
eventually leading to complex organic molecules capable of self-replication.
Scientific Question: Although Millers experiment was based on the belief that the
Earths primitive atmosphere was reducing, was the Earths primitive atmosphere
actually reducing? Volcanic gases that created the Earths early atmosphere were
rich in oxidized gases such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen, & nitrogen gases. The
reaction of water with oxidized gases does not produce hydrogen cyanide or
formaldehyde, which are the basic building blocks of complex organic molecules.
Although Millers experiment shows that hydrogen cyanide and formaldehyde can
form in a reduced atmosphere, the earths primitive atmosphere is known to be
oxidized. Therefore it is not likely that these chemicals were produced in a reducing
environment.
Revision of Hypothesis: If the primitive atmosphere was oxidizing & if there was a
sufficient supply of energy available in the past, then single molecules were able to
self-replicate in hydrothermal vents, leading to the origin of complex organic
molecules & simple cell-like structures.