The Miller-Urey Spark

Miller-Urey Experiment

What would this Earth have been like billions of years ago? Volcanoes were erupting, lightning was streaking across the sky, and the atmosphere was an entirely different place than what we're used to now! There were no animals, no trees, no humans as we know them today. There was a planet's worth of chemicals.

So, how did these chemicals evolve into complex organisms like us? This is the theory we call Abiogenesis. It stands for "living organisms developed from non-living material." Isn't that amazing to hear?

Two brilliant scientists who stepped up to solve the riddle of this great mystery were Stanley Miller and Harold Urey. To paraphrase: ''Can we simulate here on Earth the set of ingredients that was here on Earth billions of years ago, and can we get the building blocks, the fundamental molecules that would be necessary for life to form on their own?'' With this hypothesis, they launched the Miller-Urey experiment.

They built a tiny 'artificial Earth' out of glass jars and a series of pipes. The primitive Earth's atmosphere consisted of gases such as methane, ammonia, and hydrogen. Because, according to scientists, those things would have been, in most cases, abundant in the atmosphere of the Earth at that time.

So they added an ancient ocean there, too, designed to reproduce the character of the Earth's early ocean. As this water heated up and vaporized, that vapor was also added to the gas mixture mentioned above. When we first said that lightning often struck the sky on the early Earth, remember? In order to mimic this energy, they employed glass jars. Between. Two electrodes mounted in the jar, electric sparks were passed. This energized the air and water vapor. Just as happens when lightning fills the sky. This air and water vapor were permitted to flow through the system. And then a way would be made to cool it. When the water vapor cooled down, it again became a liquid, and that is again. Iay as 'rain' in the original 'ocean'. That's how loops were born.

Once this ''little artificial ancient Earth'' had been running for some time, Miller and Urey finally sampled the water in it. What they discovered was incredible! Along with the inorganic substances. They employed were complex organic molecules such as amino acids that had been created within that sample! Can you recall what amino acids are? They are the essential building blocks of proteins in our bodies! So why was this experiment such an important one?

It is basically the proof, under a natural environment as seen on Earth in the beginning, the basic elements of life, organic molecules and amino acids, could have formed 'by their selves'!. This was HUGE for science! New grounds were described for the investigation of the origin of life (Prebiotic Chemistry). Practical evidence was being gathered for the first time that the roots of life could have developed naturally.

Imagine a fat mango seed. How small is it? We could likely squish it in our hands. But lurking inside that tiny seed is a tremendous amount of energy and potential. But what do we get if we plant that seed in the ground, watering it, and letting the sun stream down? In a few days, we shall have a little plant upon it. Then it will become a small tree. In time, it will grow into a large mango tree covered in branches and leaves, blossoms, and fruit! Men take rest in the shade of that tree, bird makes nests, children play, and animals eat fruits. It all began with a little mango seed! The amino acid that Miller and Ure discovered is like a small mango seed. It is that fundamental "seed" with which we have to build the great tree of life. Back then, it was just another chemical molecule. But under the proper conditions on Earth, with enough time and energy and the right handful of chemicals, those simple molecules stitched themselves into more complex forms and it is this amazing realm of life that we see today. As if from a mango seed had sprung into growth a mighty tree. Science is always about learning new things and changing old things. This is still being investigated by scientists. There are hints that so-called hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor also have the right conditions for life to emerge.

But no matter all of these arguments and future studies, the significance of the Miller-Urey experiment has not changed. It demonstrated that, minus a sprinkle of ''magic,'' as per the meme, natural chemical processes and energy can produce things such as amino acids, the very basic building blocks of our life.

So it's like that little mango seed. Looks deceptively simple. The Miller-Urey experiment, and yet inside it is a beautiful creation. Inside there is a great history of life. Where will science take us?