EE14

Question 1

What does life need?

Answer 1

An external supply of energy.
The second law of thermodynamics. (entropy increases over time)
Life needs an external supply of energy to maintain a highly ordered state of matter.

Question 2

Where was life believed to have originated?

Answer 2

The probiotic soup.
a concentrated mixture of precursor molecules in the sea, combined with lightening.
-this has been reconstructed in lab experiments.

OR

Hydrothermal vents.
an alternative energy source could reflect ancient conditions.

Question 3

What is the evidence for 1 origin of life?

Answer 3

universal genetic code.

Question 4

When was life believed to have evolved?

Answer 4

3.5BYA is the upper limit.
-unless from meteorites
-earliest rocks interpreted as fossils =3.5bya
evidence from C12 C13 ratios in ancient rocks.
-microfossils. etc.

Question 5

What is Figens Paradox?

Answer 5

You need information for function.

Information is meaningless without function.