Question

What evidence do we have for the origin of life from inanimate matter?

Answer 1

A British scientist, J.B.S. Haldane, suggested that life originated from simple inorganic molecules. He believed that when the earth was formed, it was a hot gaseous mass containing elements such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, etc. These elements combined to form molecules like water (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), ammonia (NH₃), etc.

After the formation of water, slowly the earth surface cooled and the inorganic molecules interacted with one another in water to form simple organic molecules such as sugars, fatty acids, amino acids, etc. The energy for these reactions was provided by solar radiations, lightning, volcanic eruptions, etc.

This was proved by the experiment of Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey in 1953.

They took a mixture of water (H₂O), methane (CH₄), ammonia (NH₃), and hydrogen gas (H₂) in a chamber and sparks were passed through this mixture using two electrodes. After one week, 15% of the carbon from methane was converted into amino acids, sugars, etc. These organic molecules are polymerized and assembled to form protein molecules that gave rise to life on earth.

Miller and Urey experiment