what are the theories on how the very first organisms on earth formed?

Question

if you think about it, the materials for the very first organism had to be randomly arranged (maybe by the churning of water) in such a way that spontanously began life. that is incredibly, incredibly random.

or are there more sophisticated theories out there?

secondly, have any scientists been able to create life yet? I read in discovery magazine that some scientist created like a miniature black hole or someting that lasted for like a trillionth of a second. if we can create a black hole surely we can create one teeny little one celled organism right?

thats funny, in the religious category they told me to ask here.

and i actually got more intelligent answers there too.

michael, i woudlnt count on that.

niut, thanks for the answer, i have heard about scientists finding life near those vents. ...but the question remains...what exactly happened to bring dead materials to life.

...and g thats funny about the black hole thing because i could have swore that i just said exactly the opposite of what you said. i dont want to get into a stupid argument about that. but yes, they did.

bflute, great answer! ...i have heard a lot of different ones but yours is the one with the least amount of gaps.

Answer 1

The basics on the origin of life:
Phospholipids formed into micelles, or little circles. They were arranged such that the polar head groups were facing into aqueous solution and the polar lipid tail groups were facing in toward the other polar lipid group:
H---T T---H into a sphere. Inside these closed environments, it was possible for certain reactions to take place. The reactions eventually needed to be self-replicating; that is, they needed to react to form something to pass the information for the reaction down to another micelle. Eventually, the micelles evolved into actual cells. Alberts "Molecular Biology of the Gene" has a great explanation of this process.
There so far hasn't been an experiment to create life- that process took millions of years naturally. However, Stanley Miller did an experiment that showed that organic molecules, such as nucleic acids, amino acids, etc. could be formed from basic molecules under the conditions present in early Earth. This experiment was incredibly reproducible- many people tried it, changing around different variables, trying to disprove it, but it kept working. That's an incredible testament.

Answer 2

There are three general (scientific) hypotheses as to how life began
on earth: 1. It was always here 2.It came here from somewhere else (extraterrestrial) 3.It originated here.
I see from your question that you chose hypothesis #3.
A few decades ago a scientist named Stanley Miller at the U. of Chiocago tried to simulate the beginning of life on earth, in the laboratory. He mixed up a concoction of what was believed to be on the primitive earth: Methane gas, water, hydrogen, ammonia.
The mixture was energized with electricity(like lightning ) , heat, radiation (simulating sunlight) . These forms of energy were believed to be on the early earth. After a period of time he saw what appeared to be "living" microscopic structures (called coacervates). These coacervates occupied the primitive ocean.
For more details, look up Stanley Miller's experiment. Was it really life? Probably not; but maybe a beginning?
By the way, a "teeny little one celled organism" that you mentioned in your question , is a VERY complex biochemical system. Duplicating a cell would be the achievement of the millenium, to say the least.

Answer 3

Sorry, dude, that this turned out to be the creationist's biology section.

Anyway, the idea of the first organism appears to be the coming together of RNA, a self-replicating protein, that was formed in the hotter goo that was on earth about 3-4 billion years ago. While it seems incredible to have occurred, it is also incredible to win a high-stakes lottery, but occasionally someone does so. RNA only had to be created once, and because it has a self-replicating quality, nature could take its course from that point forward.

Scientists have not yet discovered the exact chemical sequence that would have allowed amino acids to combine to form RNA. They are working on it, but they haven't found it as of yet.

And regarding the miniature black holes, that's physics, not chemistry, and the technology needed to do them are entirely different. Your comparing the two is similar to saying to someone, "Dude, you did an excellent job fixing the brakes on my Buick. Surely you can sing the "Toreador" aria from "Carmen," right? The two tasks are roughly equivalent in difficulty."

Answer 4

Sorry dude, it's not that you need a more sophisticated theory, instead you need to understand the theory that you're glossing over. About 3.8 billion years ago, earth’s atmosphere consisted of such elements as nitrogen, hydrogen, sodium, sulfur, and carbon. Some of these elements combined to form hydrogen sulfide, methane, water, and ammonia. Water vapor in this mist probably caused millions of years of torrential rains, during which the oceans formed. Gas and water from the earth’s core came to
the surface through volcanoes. Ultraviolet radiation bathed the earth, and the elements and compounds interacted with one another to form complex molecules.

Recent theories about the origin of organic molecules suggest that these molecules may have formed in hydrothermal vents deep in the oceans, where hot gases and elements emerge from cracks in the earth’s crust. Living organisms have been found near these vents, lending credence to the theory.

The experiment you were referring to was the classic 1953 Stanley Miller and Howard Urey experiment.

We can't create black holes, and never did.

Answer 5

see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life for many hyposthesis regarding how organisms could have formed; however since we now live in our world with life, it is nearly impossible to create the conditions that would mimic earth biosphere pre-life.

An experimental approach to the question was beyond the scope of laboratory science and no real progress was made until in 1936 Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin demonstrated that it was the presence of atmospheric oxygen and other more sophisticated life-forms that prevented the chain of events that would lead to the evolution of life. Oparin argued that a "primeval soup" of organic molecules could be created in an oxygen-less atmosphere through the action of sunlight. All modern theories of the origin of life take Oparin's ideas as a starting point.

Answer 6

Read: THE CASE FOR A CREATOR, By Lee Strobel

A New York Times best seller.

There are presently no detailed Darwinian accounts of the evolution of any biochemical syatems, only a variety of wishful speculations.

Answer 7

"In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth." Genesis 1:1.

Answer 8

read the bible ( Genesis)

on a side note, people will never be able to create life only God can do that.

Answer 9

"no"