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2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. “Miller–Urey Experiment” in the Recent Picture of the Early Earth

Author : Hiromoto Nakazawa

Published in: Darwinian Evolution of Molecules

Publisher: Springer Singapore

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Abstract

Traditional hypotheses on the origin of bioorganic molecules are reviewed. “Miller–Urey experiment” is looked again in the recent picture of the early Earth. The presently known cooling history of the early Earth suggests rather a reasonable mechanism of organic molecule formation; i.e., the “late heavy bombardment” (LHB) of meteorites at 4.0 ~3.8 b.y.a. would have led to the chemical conditions to produce a large amount of organic molecules on the Earth’s surface. Simulation experiments of meteorite impact to ocean have confirmed the phenomena of evaporation of rock-forming minerals and of a mass production of ammonia, a precursor of amino acid, in post-impact plume.

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previous chapter What Is the Ultimate Ancestor? Evidence from Fossils and Gene Analyses

next chapter Origin of Organic Molecules and Natural Selection of Bioorganic Molecules

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Title: “Miller–Urey Experiment” in the Recent Picture of the Early Earth
Author: Hiromoto Nakazawa
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Book: Darwinian Evolution of Molecules
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-8723-3

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-10-8724-0

Copyright Year: 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8724-0_4