AP BIOLOGY

EVOLUTION

THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
The apparatus in the experiment was used to mimic what?
A
proteins
B
Earth’s present conditions
C
early Earth’s conditions
D
they didn’t mean to mimic anything in particular
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -In 1953, Stanley Miller reported the production of biomolecules from simple gaseous starting materials, using an apparatus constructed to simulate the primordial Earth’s atmosphere-ocean system.

Detailed explanation-2: -But to refresh your memory: in 1952 Stanley Miller and Harold Urey simulated the conditions of early Earth by sealing water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen in a glass flask. Then they applied electrical sparks to the mixture. Miraculously, amino acids came into existence amid the roiling mixture.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Miller-Urey experiment, conducted by chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey in 1953, is the classic experiment on the origin of life. It established that the early Earth atmosphere, as they pictured it, was capable of producing amino acids, the building blocks of life, from inorganic substances.

Detailed explanation-4: -In what became known as the Miller-Urey experiment, the two scientists combined warm water with a mixture of four gases-water vapour, methane, ammonia, and molecular hydrogen-and pulsed the “atmosphere” with electrical discharges.

Detailed explanation-5: -One of the first and most prominent experiments on the origin of life was conducted in 1952. Using laboratory equipment, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey simulated what they thought the conditions of early Earth’s atmosphere may have been like.

There is 1 question to complete.