Name:_______________________________________ Period:_____ Date:_____________

Origin of Life

Homework Packet

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CP Biology Origins HW#1 Name

_______15. Spontaneous generation is the hypothesis that life arises from:

a. nonliving materials c. living things
b. outer space d. DNA

16. Biogenesis is the term meaning life from _____________________________.

17. Abiogenesis is the term meaning life from _____________________________.

18. Whose experiment helped to disprove spontaneous generation using meat in covered/uncovered jars with flies?
____________________

19. Evolution is how living things _______________ over time.

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CP Biology Name

Origins HW#2

_______1. Stanley Miller and Harold Urey performed experiments to test:

a. Darwin’s theory of evolution
b. Oparin’s hypothesis of chemical evolution
c. Crick’s theory of cells
d. Redi’s theory of cells coming from other planets

_______2. About how many years ago was the Earth cool enough to allow solid rocks to form and water to
condense and fall as rain?
a. 100 b. 13.7 billion c. 4.2 billion d. 4.6 billion

3. What compounds were present in the earth’s early atmosphere?

4. How was this different from today’s atmosphere?

_____5. Which hypothesis explains the formation of the seas?

a. Water vapor in the atmosphere condensed and fell to Earth as rain
b. An Asteroid hit Earth
c. the shifting of continents caused water to come from Earth’s core
d. Atmospheric hydrogen and nitrogen dissolved

_______6. Large amounts of ultraviolet radiation reached the surface of early Earth due to
a. hydrogen in the atmosphwere
b. the size of the sun
c. the absence of an ozone layer
d. the lack of rainfall

________7. True or False: Oxygen gas was abundant in primitive earth’s atmosphere.

________8. True or False: Primitive earth was a very cold planet.

________9. True or False: If you were transported back in time, you could not survive on primitive earth.

13. Does Oparin's heterotroph hypothesis support abiogenesis or biogenesis?_____________________

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14. Fill in the chart with information about early Earth and today’s Earth. Use terms from the list below.

A) brown oceans E) no life

B) blue skies F) many different life forms

C) pinkish-orange skies G) about 20% oxygen

D) blue oceans H) little to no oxygen

Early Earth Today’s Earth

Oceans

Skies

Atmosphere

Life

15. Put the following events in order (#1 first).

_______Earth formed as pieces of cosmic debris collided with one another

_______The earth cooled enough for solid rocks to form and water began to condense & fall as rain, leading
eventually to the formation of permanent oceans.

_______ The entire earth melted after being struck by one or more huge objects

_______ Volcanic activity shook the earth's crust and comets and asteroids bombarded its surface

___1____Big Bang

_______Heavier elements settled to the interior of the Earth; lighter elements remained at the surface

_______16. True or False: Evidence suggests that life on earth originated approximately 4 billion years ago.

17. Fill in the missing blanks:

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simple organic compounds --> _______________ --> protocells (microspheres)--> __________________

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CP Biology Origins HW#3: Miller-Urey Experiment Name ______________________________

The following is an illustration of the experiment conducted in the 1950’s by Stanley Miller and Harold Urey:

1) What was the purpose of the experiment? ________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________
2) The apparatus above was meant to simulate the conditions of primitive Earth.
Which part represents the heating of the oceans?_______
Which parts represents cooling in the atmosphere?____________ leading to rain?_________
Which part represents the ‘primordial soup’?____________
Which part represents lightning?________________

3) Which two scientists are credited with this experiment?

4) What types of organic materials were collected in part E? ______________________________________________
5) What was the conclusion of the experiment? ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6) The above apparatus was called a closed system because it was closed to the air in the lab room. Why was this
necessary?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

7) Did this experiment create living cells?________________

CP Biology Name ______________________________

Origins HW#4

1) Define heterotroph. What is another term for heterotroph?

__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2) Define autotroph. What is another term for autotroph?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

3) What is the process by which most producers are able to make their own food?_______________________
4) According to the heterotroph hypothesis, which group of organisms, producers or consumers, first
inhabited the earth? _____________________. What were they feeding on?___________________________
5) How did the formation of free oxygen from photosynthesis and the development of the ozone layer stop
abiogenesis?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
6) ________The organisms which are the ancestors of all life forms are:
a. Prokaryotes b. Eukaryotes

7) Place the following sequence of events in order from the first (1) to occur in the geological time scale to the
last (10) to occur in time:

____ animals invade the land

____ multicellular eukaryotes form ____ unicellular eukaryotes evolved
____ the last dinosaurs reign _7___ first mammals are present
_1___ the first prokaryotes form ____ the first dinosaurs evolved
____ human development occurs ____ the first evidence of photosynthesis
____ plants invade the land
________8) True or false: The ozone layer prevents much of the sun’s UV rays from striking earth today.
______9. The structure labeled "X" in the diagram above is most likely a:

a. chloroplast b. mitochrondria c. nucleus

11. . How did sexual reproduction speed up the evolutionary process?

12. Describe the likely characteristics of the first organisms on earth.

________13. True or false: The first cells on earth were prokaryotic.

_____14. Cells that cannot survive in the presence of oxygen are called:
a. eukaryotes b. autotrophs c. aerobes d. anaerobes

_____15. About 2.5 billion years ago, as autotrophs evolved and began releasing oxygen into the atmosphere,
cells that could tolerate oxygen developed. They were the first:
a. heterotrophs b. aerobes c. anaerobes d. multicellular organisms
 Name______________________________
Origin of Life on Earth Crossword
Date_____________ Period____________

CP Biology

*Phrases and Word Bank are on the opposite side

 WORD BANK

Prokaryotic Endosymbiont Heat

Eukaryotic MillerUrey Ozone

Organic Consumers Mutations

Oxygen Photosynthesis Redi

Pasteur Generation Billion

Across
4. The evolution of new forms of life over millions of years is thought to be due to many many instances of
sudden changes in DNA codes called __?__

9. This team of scientists set up an apparatus designed to simulate the "primordial soup" thought to have been
present on early earth

11. The idea that rotting meat creates flies is an example of "spontaneous __?__"

12. The development of a protective __?__ layer in earth's atmosphere stopped the origin of new cells from
nonliving materials.

13. The development of this process in some cells led to the addition of oxygen gas to earth's early atmosphere

Down
1. The __?__ theory is one idea as to how cells may have become eukaryotic

2. Were the first cells thought to be producers --or-- consumers?

3. The addition of __?__ can cause all of the following: amino acids joining to form proteins; small organic
molecules joining to form more complex molecules; amino acids joining to form protocells

5. Molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids are considered __?__ molecules.

6. The term which describes complex cells, such as plants, animals, fungi and protists, which do contain a
nucleus

7. The oldest fossilized cells discovered so far are about 3.5 __?__ years old.

8. The term which describes simple cells, such as bacteria, which do not contain a nucleus

10. Scientist who performed an experiment involving raw meat, jars, and flies to disprove the idea of
spontaneous generation

13. The scientist who performed an experiment involving swan-neck flasks and broth to disprove the idea of
spontaneous generation

14. What gas, plentiful in Earth's atmosphere today, was thought to be absent from the atmosphere of early
Earth?