explain miller and urey experiment
Answers
In the 1950's, biochemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, conducted an experiment which demonstrated that several organic compounds could be formed spontaneously by simulating the conditions of Earth's early atmosphere.
They designed an apparatus which held a mix of gases similar to those found in Earth's early atmosphere over a pool of water, representing Earth's early ocean. Electrodes delivered an electric current, simulating lightning, into the gas-filled chamber. After allowing the experiment to run for one week, they analyzed the contents of the liquid pool. They found that several organic amino acids had formed spontaneously from inorganic raw materials. These molecules collected together in the pool of water to form coacervates.
Their experiments, along with considerable geological, biological, and chemical evidence, lends support to the theory that the first life forms arose spontaneously through naturally occuring chemical reactions. However, there are still many skeptics of this theory who remain unconvinced. British astrophysicist, Fred Hoyle, compares the likelihood of life appearing on Earth by chemical reactions "as equivalent to the possibility that a tornado sweeping through a junkyard might assemble a Boeing 747 from the materials therein".
Describe the miller-urey experiment and its major conclusions:
Firstly this experiment was a simulation experiment, to prove molecular evolution of life. Conditions were simulated in this experiment which were that of primitive earth.
Urey and Miller experimentally proved the formation of simple ORGANIC compounds from other simple compounds under specified conditions.
1) They created a methane-ammonia-hydrogen and water mixture to simulate the PRIMORDIAL ATMOSPHERE
2) They subjected the above mixture to a spark of 75,000 volts, this simulated the lightening of primitive earth
3) Then they provided temperature of 800 degrees Celsius
So basically, the methane-ammonia-hydrogen mixture was taken in ratio of 2:2:1 along with all these heated products and were passed through a condenser which on condensation yielded aqueous end products.
The end products contained : amino acids, aldehydes etc. all major organic compounds which are precursors for life.
Amino acids as we know are essential precursors of nucleic acids.
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