Can we create living by arranging atoms is a particular way?

Question

in a question i asked before ( http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AubO_oJJCuBiApZDm_VvF.OQHQx.?qid=20070313030559AA6zj1M ), many people said that atoms are not living organisms even though living things are made of atoms,its just the way atoms are organised that creates a living thing. so does that mean that if we are able to arrange atoms in a particular way then we can create life??

Answer 1

No one really knows what makes an organism live. DNA is arranged the same way in living and dead organisms. The ability to transfer energy from ATP during chemical reactions is the main key. Once an organism fails to produce ATP it can no longer live.

Answer 2

Theoretically yes. (Although of course, we have no way to move atoms around with that kind of precision.)

But a living form is not just a static arrangement of atoms and molecules. For it to be alive it needs to have the *process* of life ongoing.

It is like asking the question, can we create a car just by arranging atoms of iron, carbon, silicon-dioxide (glass), etc., etc. Theoretically yes. But to create a *running* car, we would also need to arrange the atoms so that it's gas tank is full (arranging hydrocarbon molecules to make gasoline), and then arrange the pistons and sparkplugs so they are in the middle of the act of firing, and the parts are moving etc. That is a *much* harder problem.

The same would apply to any type of complex organism ... creating a dead mouse is one thing ... creating a living one is quite another.

However, for a simple single-celled organism, it might be theoretically possible that by moving atoms into the right arrangement, and then supplying the right kinds of nutrients and energy, that we could jumpstart a life.

But that's all talking theoretically, of course. We don't create complex things just by moving atoms around. We can barely create something as non-complex as a diamond from pure carbon atoms. We've been able to create synthetic diamonds ... but that's child's play compared to a living organism.

Answer 3

Yes we can surly create a liing organism by arranging the atoms in a particular way.

Answer 4

Every cell in you body contains DNA. That DNA is found in the nucleus of your cell and in humans is a chain millions of molecules long. The molecules being 1 of 6 possible molecules. Each molecule contains say 15 atoms.

Sections of the DNA (a series of these 6 molecules arranged in a specific order) produce chemicals that interact with your cells. These chemicals are called proteins and the section of the DNA strand is called a gene.

You can certainly manipulate the molecules to create different proteins which in turn could create different "life".

here's a couple of links on DNA
http://www.mindfully.org/GE/DNA.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/18617/data/types/intro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA

Answer 5

It's more than just a bunch of highly specialized atom, because the unit they form must be able to self-replicate or be parasites like virus in nature. Half century ago they got Amino Acid to turn on in lab experiment.

Answer 6

i think of that there are categories of atoms i.e helium , hydrogen, uranium, plutonium etc. yet all atoms originated at time of the super bang, so i'd desire to assume that each and every person atoms could be recycled, via an unknown technique and finally end up turning out to be component of yet another organism or the different form of count for that count. i don't think of its conceivable for atoms to be destroyed , so i presume they're each and every of the comparable atoms.

Answer 7

Yes in theory -

Have a little look at viruses they are weird in that they kind of sit between living organisms and "just molecules".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus

The definition of living is actually an artificial constuction of man don't forget that's why you can have strange exceptions like viruses which don't conform fully to the definition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life

Answer 8

yes it is possible but it is so hard to culture the needed atoms in making a living organism, if we start it now maybe your 10th generation can see the final result, so i suggest let's just use the traditional way in making living organism like human, if we start it now we will just wait for 9 months

Answer 9

You don't need to arrange atoms, you should "arrange" the molecules. The molecules of "living things" are made of atoms (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, ...).

Answer 10

yes