Which of these evolutionary processes do scientists think occurred first...?

Question

a. Molecules like DNA and RNA formed and later reproduced themselves.
b. Protobionts formed, followed by prokaryotic cells.
c. Complex molecules were produced when the Sun provided enough energy.
d. Simple compounds existed in Earth's early oceans and hot springs.

Answer 1

Yeah, that's a really crappy question. I'm gonna go with D.

By the way, learn more about what we knew of early Earth (and an interesting experiment into the origins of RNA, so this is related to choice A) below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller-Urey_experiment

Answer 2

This is a question on biochemical processes, not evolution. Evolution requires the existence of autonomous, replicating entities that pass down information from one generation to another. You can figure out the question by thinking of how complex each part is. What is the most and least complex? Prokaryotes? Large macromolecules? Simple compounds?

C is completely wrong because sunlight does not directly drive the synthesis of complex molecules. The development of autotrophs that utilized sunlight came much later than protobionts and heterotrophs.

As for the first person to reply...that is an answer that celebrates ignorance. It basically states that thinking is too hard so I'm just going to say that everything around me is the work of magic. My [Insert favorite deity here] is stronger than your god and can do everything.

Answer 3

That is not a very good question actually. Either C or D could be the correct answer, and I guess based on a linear timeline they are probably looking for D. Based on the question, I'm guessing the material was covered in linear fashion, and your answer was provided at some point.

Answer 4

Scientists also believed the earth was flat, then that it was the center of the universe, that if we let out enough bad blood we would cure the patient ( and George Washington died), that we should eat lots of white bread to increase our energy levels from starch, and on and on and on. Is it possible, since science can't prove where matter came from, or the energy needed to create the bang, or how order came from an explosion, that science, and evolutionary thought is just one more scientific error in the long litany of errors? Is it possible that the earth was created by a personal, sovereign, all powerful God?