EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE Deep Sea Vents

Paleontologist are working through land and waters
searching for things that could lead them back in time.
They have discovered fossils of simple things, bacteria, in
rocks of age 3.5 billion years old. They tell us that life
originated during the first billion years of the history of our
planet. Revealing the origin of life has difficulty, these
possibilities were identified:
1. SPECIAL CREATION
Life-forms may have been put on earth by
supernatural or divine forces called, God. He created
life at the core of most major religions most major
religions. The oldest hypothesis about life’s origins, is
also the most widely accepted. Many take a more
extreme position accepting the biblical account of life's
creation.
2. EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN
Life may have infected earth from some other planet.
The theory of panspermia proposes that meteors or
cosmic dust may have carried significant amounts of
complex organic molecules to earth, kicking off the
evolution of life. Hundreds of thousands of meteorites
and comets are known to have slammed into the early
earth, and recent findings suggest that at least some
may have carried organic materials.
3. SPONTANEOUS ORIGIN.
Life may have evolved from inanimate matter, as
associations among molecules became more and
more complex. Most scientists tentatively accept the
theory. As changes in molecules increased their
stability and caused them to persist longer, these
molecules could initiate more and more complex
associations, culminating in the evolution of cells.
Life may have begun at submarine hydrothermal
vents spewing key hydrogen-rich molecules which
provided mineral catalyst for critical reactions. These
vents rich in chemical and thermal energy sustains
ecosystem.
Chilly Start
The layer of ice, hundreds of feet thick might have
protected fragile organic compounds in the water
below from destructive ultraviolet rays, 3 billion years
ago. The cold temperature had helped the molecules
to survive longer.
Primordial Soup
Life on earth began more the 3 billion years ago,
evolving from the most basic or microbes into dazzling
array of complexity over time.
Electric Spark
Lightning may have provided the spark needed for life
to begin. Electrical sparks generate chemical
reactions of amino acids and sugars with an
atmosphere loaded with water, methane, ammonia
and hydrogen. Those molecules might have become
organized into living cells.
There is evidence that the first living things appeared
on earth billion years ago. One theory involves
interaction between hydrocarbons, ammonia and
lightning.

When life first appeared on earth, the environment

was very hot. All of the spontaneous origin
hypotheses assume that the organic chemicals were
the building blocks of life arose spontaneously at that
time.

Community Clay
Alexander Graham Cairns-Smith at the University of
Glasgow in Scotland elaborated on the idea of the first
molecules of life might have met on clay with
concentrated compounds organized into patterns like
genes. After a while, organic molecules took over this
job and formed a more complex one.