Download Miller Urey Experiment (Origin of Life)

Organic Molecules Formed
Miller Urey Experiment
(Origin of Life)
Remember the Following as the
Origin of Life is Considered:
1. The smallest known protein
has 51 L-type amino acids in a
particular order.
2. One of the smallest living
organisms is a mollicute. It
consists of 256,000 L-type amino
acids in a particular order.
Think Critically
Does the idea of simple organic
molecules being formed prove that they
could assemble themselves by random
chance into a biologic protein?
Does the formation of simple organic
molecules confirm the idea of life
resulting from these molecules?
In 1953 Stanley Miller and Harold
Urey performed the first experiment
that produced amino acids in what
was assumed to be a pre-life
atmosphere. They passed a mixture
of water vapor, methane, hydrogen
and ammonia gases through an
electric arc to simulate what would
happen if these gases were
subjected to lightning.
Miller Urey Experiment
Apparatus
Miller Urey Experimental Results
10 biologic amino acid types
25 non-biologic amino acid
types
Formaldehyde
Sugars
Think Critically
In considering your answers to the following
questions remember that natural selection
and mutations only effect living organisms.
Do You Think the Results of the Miller Urey
Experiment Indicate That the Biologic Amino
Acids Could Separate Themselves From the
Non-biologic Amino Acids and other
compounds By Random Chance
Happenings to Form a Biological
Polypeptide?
Think Critically (cont’d)
Are the Odds That This Could
Happen Greater Than Those of
Winning the Power Ball Lottery?
Could insulin have been formed?
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