Question

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

Answer 1

Scientists have always been fascinated by the chemical processes which led to the origin of life. Eighty years ago, in 1938, it was first suggested that methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen could have formed the early atmosphere of Earth, and that the organic molecules of life were first formed from them rather than from the carbon dioxide , nitrogen, oxygen , and water that can be found in the atmosphere that we now know.

Complete answer:
Stanley L. Miller published his results in order to test this hypothesis. In 1953, Stanley L. Miller published some experiments and a paper explaining the synthesis of amino acids induced by a spark in a gas mixture supposed to be present in the early atmosphere of the Earth. Miller, then an undergraduate, and Harold Urey, his boss, designed a system to simulate early Earth conditions: it included a mixture of methane , ammonia and hydrogen gases, an ocean water tank, and electrodes that applied an electric current to the gas mixture, simulating lightning. Miller discovered that the water had become coloured and turbid after allowing the experiment to run for one week, and when its contents were tested, it was found that organic compounds had been found.
The Miller-Urey experiment presented proof from inanimate matter regarding the origin of life. They developed an atmosphere in the experiment that included molecules such as ammonia, methane and hydrogen sulphide, but no oxygen. This climate, during the primitive Earth, was similar to the climate present. The temperature was held stable and lightning was triggered by sparks passing through the mixture. A certain amount of methane carbon has been converted to basic carbon compounds such as amino acids after a certain period of time. Amino acids are protein precursors, and proteins are the essential molecules that sustain life.

Note: It is important to note that in his original paper, Miller made it clear that his experiment aimed to recreate the primitive atmosphere of the earth rather than to attain ideal conditions for amino acid formation, although he suggested that a similar method and a different composition of the gas mixture might be useful for amino acid industrial growth.