AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Miller’s experiment mimicked lightning by the action of an electric discharge on a mixture of gases representing the early atmosphere, in the presence of a liquid water reservoir, representing the early oceans.

Detailed explanation-2: -The water vapour was heated and the vapour released was added to the chemical mixture. The released gases circulated around the apparatus imitating the earth’s atmosphere. The water in the flask represents the water on the earth’s surface and the water vapour is just like the water evaporating from lakes, and seas.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Miller–Urey experiment provided the first experimental evidence for the “primordial soup” hypothesis-the idea that simple organic compounds, formed when energy triggered chemical reactions in the atmosphere, accumulated in a “soup” such as in oceans or ponds.

Detailed explanation-4: -In their famous experiment, Miller and Urey replicated the early Earth atmosphere with a mixture of methane, hydrogen, ammonia and water vapor. This mixture, along with some “sparks” which simulated lightning, led to the formation of amino acids.

Detailed explanation-5: -Miller, along with his colleague Harold Urey, used a sparking device to mimic a lightning storm on early Earth. Their experiment produced a brown broth rich in amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.