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[Free topic] Miller-Urey experiment on origin of life! |
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by Diana Gamazova | 17-03-2021 14:38
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4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth appeared, it was a hot, lifeless ball. Today, however, it is home to an abundance of different forms of life. In this regard, the question arises: what changes have taken place on our planet from the moment of its formation to the present day, and most importantly — how did the molecules that form living organisms arise on the lifeless Earth? In 1953, an experiment was set up at the University of Chicago, which today has become a classic. He showed scientists the way to answer this fundamental question. In 1953, Harold Urey was already a Nobel laureate, and Stanley Miller was just his graduate student. The idea of Miller's experiment was simple: in a basement laboratory, he reproduced the atmosphere of the oldest Earth, as it was according to scientists, and watched from the outside what was happening. With Yuuri's help, he assembled a simple apparatus made of a glass spherical flask and tubes, in which the vaporized substances circulated in a closed circuit, cooled, and re-entered the flask. Miller filled the flask with gases that, according to Urey and the Russian biochemist Alexander Oparin (1894-1980), were present in the atmosphere at the beginning of the formation of the Earth — water vapor, hydrogen, methane and ammonia. To simulate solar heat, Miller heated a flask on a Bunsen burner, and to get an analog of lightning flashes, he inserted two electrodes into a glass tube. According to his plan, the material, evaporating from the flask, had to enter the tube and be exposed to an electric spark discharge. After that, the material had to be cooled and returned to the flask, where the entire cycle began again. After two weeks of operation of the system, the liquid in the flask began to acquire a dark red-brown hue. Miller analyzed this liquid and found amino acids in it — the main structural units of proteins. So scientists have the opportunity to study the origin of life from the point of view of the main chemical processes. Since 1953, the Miller—Urey experiment, as it has since become known, has produced all kinds of biological molecules — including the complex proteins necessary for cellular metabolism, and the fat molecules called lipids that form cell membranes. Apparently, the same result could be obtained by using other sources of energy instead of electric discharges — for example, heat and ultraviolet radiation. So there is almost no doubt that all the components necessary for the assembly of the cell could have been obtained in chemical reactions that took place on Earth in ancient times. The value of the Miller—Urey experiment is that it showed that lightning flashes in the atmosphere of the ancient Earth for several hundred million years could cause the formation of organic molecules that fell with the rain in the "primary broth" (see also The Theory of evolution). The chemical reactions occurring in this "broth", which have not yet been established, could lead to the formation of the first living cells. In recent years, serious questions have been raised about how these events developed, in particular, the presence of ammonia in the atmosphere of the oldest Earth is being questioned. In addition, several alternative scenarios have been proposed that could lead to the formation of the first cell, ranging from the enzymatic activity of a biochemical RNA molecule to simple chemical processes in the ocean depths. Some scientists even suggest that the origin of life is related to the new science of complex adaptive systems and that it is possible that life is an unexpected property of matter that occurs abruptly at a certain moment and is absent from its constituent parts. Today, this field of knowledge is experiencing a period of rapid development, in which various hypotheses appear and are tested. From this maelstrom of hypotheses, a theory must emerge about how our most distant ancestors came to be.  |
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4 Comments
Hello Diana,
its a really an interesting experiment . i have read this on class 11 . i have really enjoyed.
This report made me to remember my college days.
thanks for sharing
Posted 01-04-2021 22:01
Hi Diana,
This is your mentor Debbie!
First of all, well done for already participating deeply in our TUNZA community! :) The origin of Life is a topic that many of us are interested in. Especially after reading about the Miller-Urey experiment you introduced in the article, it??s even more appealing to read further about the topic! Sometimes I also wonder, even though an enzymic activity was discovered in the deep ocean, WHERE exactly did this start from? It??s just super mysterious!
Thanks for introducing a new concept to our readers! Can??t wait to read more of yours in April! :)
Green Cheers, 
Debbie
Posted 28-03-2021 19:44
Hi Diana, this is your mentor Yuseon:D
I can't believe that I read your reports three times in a row now.
Big applause for your active posting:)
Seems like you are really interested in the Origin of Life and its many theories. Thank you for the informative report on Miller-Urey experiment. I remember learning this in my biology class in high school. Finding amino acids in the flask was the start of the possibility of life , since amino acids are the main structural units of proteins, and humans are consisted of it.
Next time, want to hear more about your personal view on these theories and your thoughts of its limitations.
Thanks for the cool report,
Yuseon
Posted 19-03-2021 16:16
Hello Diana,
Greetings
I read about Miller-Urey's experiment in Grade 11 and loved the experiment. Thanks Diana for again reminding me about this experiment. Keep Writing.
Posted 17-03-2021 14:44