V. HOW DID LIFE BEGIN ON EARTH
THE HETEROTROPH HYPOTHESIS
(the following is based off of years of human experiments, observations, analyses, and conclusions)
A long, long time ago...
* the
earth was a hot place filled with inorganic
material
* as the planet cooled down, water condensed and collected into the
seas carrying dissolved gases (NH3 H2O
H2 methane) and minerals
* energy from lightning, cosmic rays (no ozone layer yet) , and radioactive
material provided an energy rich environment
* from these conditions, simple organic molecules formed! (proven in the Miller/Urey experiments)
* in time, these simple organic molecules aggregated (clumped) to form larger, more complex organic molecules
WHAT
HAPPENED NEXT IS COOL...and
took a very long time...
* as these molecules became more advanced, they gained the capability
to take in other molecules (nutrition) as well as being able to make
copies of themselves (reproduction) by trial and error of code
* meanwhile, there is no oxygen O2 gas
* the simple life forms got their energy through simpler anaerobic (no oxygen) respiration and released carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere
* soon, some life forms were able to use CO2 to carry out photosynthesis--which releases oxygen!
* others then gained the ability to use the oxygen to carry out aerobic (using oxygen) respiration...lots more energy released...evolution speeds up!
SUMMARY OF HETEROTROPHIC HYPOTHESIS
SIMPLE MOLECULES
COMPLEX
MOLECULES
(Heterotrophic nutrition)
SIMPLE
ORGANISMS
(heterotrophic nutrition)
(anaerobic respiration--releases CO2)
SIMPLE
ORGANISMS
(autotrophic nutrition--releases O2)
(anaerobic respiration)
SIMPLE
ORGANISMS
(aerobic respiration--uses O2
lots of energy!!!)
COMPLEX
ORGANISMS
Evolution
