Does E=MC^2 in any way explain how the first cell came to be?

Question

I think that maybe there was enough energy at that moment in history that a new type of matter came to be, a matter that was alive and able to recreate itself in the bundled up form of dna. In a way that no other matter can. Hmmmmmm.......There is so much energy packed into it.....any ideas?

Answer 1

Not directly explain, but it does explain one of the foundations of life, that being energy. But to think that life is a type of matter is inaccurate.

Interestingly enough though, there are lots of molecules that naturally recreate processes that we normally associate with living organisms. For instance there are molecules that when combined together, tend to form tiny bubbles. And when these bubbles get too big, they naturally split into 2 separate bubbles. There are others that repel water, and others that attract water. The list goes on and on, but I don't think its a large leap for all these molecules to accidently combine into something that resembles a primitive cell, with replicating abilities and all.

Answer 2

Kinna sorta. . .

The relationship between mass and entergy is what allowed all matter to be formed. This occured right after the Big Bang, where the amount of entergy was vrtually unlimited.

It is theorized that 80% of the matter formed after the Big Bang was Hydrogen and the other 20% was Helium.

Eventually that matter became stars and in the inside of stars, other elements were formed untill we get to Iron. After that the only way to create the other elements was in a supernova. The fusion into these other elements also followed the E-mc^2 law.

However, after a time (a long time) these elements also began to condense into stars and planets, and eventually life.

This is very simplified, but a more detailed explination would take days to type.

Answer 3

Not in any direct way. The equation is the basis for high energy physics and physics is the basis for organic chemistry. With O Chem you can look into the origin of the first cell.

Answer 4

I don't believe so........

Your reasoning is circular. E=MC^2 defines the relationship between enregy and matter, not that energy creates matter. Matter contains energy, but energy does not create matter. Matter must exist first to store energy

Answer 5

Energy = Mass * Speed of Light ^2

nope that has nothing to do with cells since its just the mass to energy conversion.

Answer 6

Hi. Yes. Without the process described by the formula stars would not fuse hydrogen into the chemicals needed by the first cell.

Answer 7

I don't believe you can correlate the two, beyond the inherent energy of a DNA molecule.


Good point Cirric.