Origin of Life

Over the past few centuries scientists have been trying to answer the question: what was the origin of life? There have been a number of scientists who have produces a number of plausible theories. The currently most excepted theory is Oparin’s theory, which states that the “origin of life on Earth was in nonliving chemical substances which spontaneously formed in Earth’s early atmosphere and combined to make more complex chemicals until living cells were formed. “ This maybe a possibility because Stanley Miller; a student at University of Chicago, began experimenting to prove Oparin’s theory. He created a device that dispersed gas’s that were likely to be present in the early atmosphere, and then he “past an electrical discharge, stimulating the UV rays present in the early atmosphere. After allowing the experiment to continue for a week, the results were startling; the previously colorless solution inside the apparatus had become red.” After the solution was analyzed, Miller found that most of the organic molecules present could not be readily identified; this in effect proved Oparin’s theory that organic compounds could have been created in the early atmosphere. However, there have been other theories that do not support this experiment; is the Cosmozoa theory; which states that life was brought to earth from somewhere else, and the theory of spontaneous generation; which states that life can suddenly and spontaneously appear. Therefore, this essay will discuss the many different perspectives and theories of the origin of life and each of these theories discuss the environmental factors that would affect the possibility of the recurrence

of the origin of life due to the different atmosphere during the primeval Earth. Also this essay will discuss the influences of Sydney Fox, and Stanley Miller on the current theories. And the past point of view about evolution will also be covered, and therefore, the basic idea of the current and past models of the origin of life will be encompassed. Therefore the different perspectives and theories of the origin of life will be discussed, which has been a question of the past, and perhaps future.

The main focus of Oparin’s theory is even though Spontaneous Generation cannot due to the experiment performed by Pasteur; who boiled containers of broth and curved tubes were attached, in order to prevent microorganisms from entering the broth, but air was transportable. The liquid then was sterilized, however living things did not grow in the broth, which meant that organisms did not spontaneously generate. However Oparin’s theory explains a possible answer to this, which states that life may not appear spontaneously on Earth in today’s world, however it could have been possible during the primeval world, due to the fact that earth’s oceans were once rich with organic molecules. Which may have caused certain molecules to combine and exhibit characteristics of life, because the planet earth’s atmospheric make up was different then (large amounts of nitrogen gas, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane) because earth had extremely intense exposure to radioactivity, visible light, ultraviolet light, and cosmic radiation. Therefore, Oparin’s theory requires the earth to have had a different chemical atmosphere from today in order for life; which has a membrane to separate the cell from other molecules, has a selectively permeable membrane, has the ability to merge other molecules, and reproduces, for organisms to come into being during the primeval Earth.

Attempting to prove Oparin’s hypothesis, scientists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, “carried out an experiment in which they attempted to simulate early Earth’s conditions according to evolutionists." They determined that three of the amino acids, which are part of the basic building blocks of living organisms, had been synthesized. However the experiment did not replicate the prehistoric conditions of earth. And an experiment called a “cold trap” was utilized to segregate the amino acids, if this device had not been utilized the amino acids would have been spoiled by the conditions of the environment. Also the same type gases present in the early atmosphere were not used, and without the gases that were used the amino acids would have been impossible to synthesize. Therefore, even though Miller’s experiment did not prove how amino acids formed during the primeval earth, it was still seen as the basic answer for the formation of amino acids. Which creates the question, that how did hundreds of amino acids attach in the correct order to form proteins. And if they did attach, how was it possible for the proteins to attach to the amino acids which release a water molecule when two amino acids are bonded together, and it “is not possible for a reaction that releases water to take place in a hydrate environment,”