AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -abiogenesis, the idea that life arose from nonlife more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth. Abiogenesis proposes that the first life-forms generated were very simple and through a gradual process became increasingly complex.

Detailed explanation-2: -spontaneous generation, the hypothetical process by which living organisms develop from nonliving matter; also, the archaic theory that utilized this process to explain the origin of life.

Detailed explanation-3: -For several centuries it was believed that living organisms could spontaneously come from nonliving matter. This idea, known as spontaneous generation, is now known to be false.

Detailed explanation-4: -Other common examples of spontaneous generation were that dust creates fleas, maggots arise from rotting meat, and bread or wheat left in a dark corner produces mice.

Detailed explanation-5: -This idea was referred to as spontaneous generation. By sterilizing cultures and keeping them isolated from the open air, Pasteur found that contamination of the media only occurred upon exposure to the outside environment, showing that some element was needed to give rise to life.