universe formed 15 billion years ago (big bang) galaxies formed from stars, dust and gas earth...

When space turned around, the earth heatedWhen space turned over, the sky reversed

When the sun appeared standing in shadowsTo cause light to make bright the moon,

When the Pleiades are small eyes in the night,From the source in the slime was the earth formedFrom the source in the dark was darkness formed

From the source in the night was night formedFrom the depths of the darkness, darkness so deep

Darkness of day, darkness of nightOf night alone

Did night give birthBorn was Kumulipo in the night, a maleBorn was Po'ele in the night, a female

Born the coral polyp

Born of him a coral colony emerged....

pp. 3-4, Johnson, R.K., 1981. The Kumulipo: Hawaiian hymm of creation. Vol. 1. TopgallantPublishing Co., Ltd., Honolulu, Hawai'i

• Universe formed 15 billion years ago (Big

Bang)

• Galaxies formed from stars, dust and gas

• Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago

• Suns energy stripped away 1st atmosphere

• 2nd atmosphere formed from volcanic outgassing

• Primitive atmosphere: CO2, water vapor, lesser

amts of CO, N2, H2, HCl, and traces of NH3 and

CH4 (3.5 bya)

• O2 came in 1.5 bya from

photosynthesis

• Present atmosphere: 78% N2, 21% O2, 0.04% CO2, + trace gasses

Formation of Earth’s Oceans(4 bybp):

Rain

Condensation

Off gassing of water vapor from volcano

Life began~ 3.5 bya

Organic molecules (C H O N P S) swimming in shallow seas

Stage 1: Abiotic synthesis of organic molecules such as proteins, amino acids and nucleotides

Stage 2: joining of small molecules (monomers) into large molecules

Stage 3: origin of self-replicating molecules that eventually made inheritance possible

Stage 4: packaging these molecules into pre-cells, droplets of molecules with membranes that maintained an internal chemistry

Thomas Huxley- Search for origin of lifeBathybias heckalii- primordial ooze

Wyville Thompson: HMS Challenger (1872-1876) found it was actually diatomacous ooze reacting with seawater and ethyl alcoholAlso, disproved Forbes’ Azoic Theory (1868-1870)

Miller & Urey (1953)- mixed water vapor, NH3, CH4, H2

+ electric spark amino acids and other organic compounds

electrodes

spark

CH4

NH3

H2

water vapor

condenser

boiling water

water containing organic compounds

Produced:• 20 amino acids• Several sugars• Lipids• Purine and pyrimidine bases (found in

DNA, RNA & ATP)

chemosynthetic bacteria (extremophiles)

Chemosynthesis:

02 + 4H2S + C02 CH20 + 4S +3H20

Stromatolites (bacteria & cyanobacteria)

Oldest fossils found in western Australia and southern Africa ~ 3.5 byo

Photosynthesis:

6H2O + 6CO2 + nutrients + light energy C6H12O6 + 6O2

Stromatolites from Shark’s Bay Australia

mostly cyano

Inquiry1. How old is the Earth?2. What was the 1st organism to

have appeared 3.5 bya?3. How did it eat?4. When did oxygen 1st appear in

the atmosphere?5. How was it produced?6. What did Miller & Urey’s study

conclude?