THE CONCEPT OF LIFE BASED ON

EMERGING PIECES OF EVIDENCE

for Earth and Life Science Grade 11
Quarter 2 / Week 1
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
What was the first form of life? Life is believed to
have existed on earth for billions of years now.
Scientists do not know exactly when life began on
Earth. However, they can trace how life developed
and evolved using some pieces of evidence. Earth is
much older than life. Based on radioactive decay
studies of rocks, it was revealed that Earth is around
4.5 billion years old – 1 billion years older than the
oldest fossils. So how did life begin? Where did it
come from? 2 2
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
OBJECTIVE:
This self-learning kit aims to:
K- Explain the evolving concept of life based on
emerging pieces of evidence
S- Describe the conditions on early Earth that made the
origin of life possible and the first life forms
A- Cite ways on how to preserve and conserve various
life
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forms.
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Theories on how life could have begun;

1. Extraterrestrial origin- The hypothesis explains that life

originated on another planet outside our Solar System. Life
was then carried to Earth on a meteorite or an asteroid and
colonized Earth. However, this hypothesis has not been
proven.

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Theories on how life could have begun;

2. Panspermia- The theory presumes that the “seed”

of life exists all over the universe and can be
propagated through space, and that life on Earth
originated from those seeds

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Theories on how life could have begun:

3. Divine creation- Many people believe that life was

put on Earth by divine forces. Creation theories are
common to many of the world’s religions and
cultures.

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Theories on how life could have begun:
4. Origin from Nonliving matter- Scientist believed that life
arose on Earth from inanimate matter after Earth had
cooled. They stated that random events probably produced
stable molecule that could self-replicate. Then, natural
selection favored changes in the rate of reproduction which
eventually led to the first cell.

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
There are many theories about the origin of life. Some
believed that living organisms were put to Earth by some
divine forces. Others say that life did not originate from
Earth but from other planets. But among scientists, the
most accepted theory is that life came from inanimate
matter. According to the primordial soup theory proposed
by Alexander Oparin and John Haldane, life started in a
primordial soup of organic molecules. Some form of
energy from lightning combined with the chemicals in the
atmosphere to make the building blocks of protein known 8 8

as the amino acids.

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Evidence on the first forms of life:
A. EXPERIMENT
American chemist Stanley Miller performed an experiment
replicated early Earth conditions. Together with Harold
Urey, he provided proof that amino acids and other organic
molecules could be formed.

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Stanley Miller Harold Urey
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Evidence on the first forms of life:
B. FOSSILS
One of the strongest pieces of evidence that show many
life forms existed in the Earth in the past 3.5 billion
years.
1. Bone Fossil

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Evidence on the first forms of life:
B. FOSSILS
One of the strongest pieces of evidence that show many
life forms existed in the Earth in the past 3.5 billion
years.
2. Shell Fossil

1111
Click to edit Master
THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Evidence on the first forms of life:
B. FOSSILS
One of the strongest pieces of evidence that show many
life forms existed in the Earth in the past 3.5 billion
years.
3. Plant Fossil

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
How do fossil forms:
Over long periods of time, particles piled up on the
remains of organisms and eventually became
sedimentary rocks, preserving the original body patterns
of organism.
➢ Microfossils
• Fossil fragments that can only be
seen by microscope
• Existed in mats and formed layered
structures called stromatolites. 1313
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
➢ Stromatolites-a calcareous mound built up of layers of
lime- secreting prokaryotes, or single-celled organisms,
called cyanobacteria (the blue-green algae) and trapped
sediment, found in Precambrian rocks as the earliest
known fossils, and still being formed in lagoons in
Australasia.

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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
➢ Cyanobacteria-Believed by scientists to be the first
oxygen- producing organisms that helped evolve the
Earth’s early atmosphere into one that can support
early life forms.
• As these microorganisms continued generating
oxygen, other photosynthetic organisms evolved and
increased the level of oxygen in the atmosphere.
• This increased the chance of more and more oxygen
reaction ammonia, a reaction that results in the
release of nitrogen into atmosphere
• This resulted in the formation of the ozone layer!
• A rapid evolution of life occurred after oxygen
became abundant.
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Early Forms of Life
The first form of life is believed to have appeared some 3.5 billion years ago.
The first evidence of life is found in microfossils. Microfossils are fossils that
contain the remains of tiny plants and animals. They are very small and can be
measured in millimeters, and some could only be identified under a
microscope. Some of the remains of organisms do not have a nucleus so they
were called prokaryotes. They are known to be the earliest forms of life. They
have survived the extreme conditions of the early environment. They started
to make their own food by utilizing the energy from the sun and the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. These are the photosynthetic organisms. The
process of photosynthesis produced more oxygen that changed the Earth’s early
atmosphere. This change in the atmosphere allowed oxygen-breathing
organisms to exist.
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THE CONCEPT title
OF LIFE style ON EMERGING PIECES OF
BASED
EVIDENCE
Protozoans, sponges, and fungi came to being. The
first fossilized animals which were discovered 580
million years ago were soft-bodied. The continuous
process of cell specialization brought the emergence
of complex and diverse plants and animals, including
human beings. Evidence from fossil layers proved that
different forms of life were present and have evolved
through time. According to Charles Darwin, organisms
change over time because of adaptation to their
environment to survive. 1717