Exam 10 - Origins of Life Flashcards
What is the estimated age of the universe and earth according to mainstream science?
Approximately 13.8 billion years for Universe; 4.5 billion for Earth
What is radiometric dating, and what does it measure?
- Dating rocks, fossils, or even human artifacts based upon the ratio of certain parent atoms/elements “break down” (nuclear/radioactive decay) into other daughter elements over specific amount of time unique to each element.
Describe the “primordial soup” model in the context of abiogenesis.
the first “simple” cell arose in an aquatic environment near volcanic vents with heat, minerals, protection, concentrated molecules, sunlight, lightning
What are the four main biomolecules essential for life?
Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins (made of amino acid monomers), and nucleic acids (DNA, RNA; that are made of nucleotide monomers).
Explain the significance of chirality in biomolecules for life.
Chirality refers to the mirror-image forms of biomolecules; life on Earth predominantly uses one form (e.g., left-handed amino acids; right-handed sugars), which is essential for the proper structure and function of biological macromolecules.
Yet, most mixtures created in a lab or made in prebiotic conditions are racemic (meaning they are 50/50 of each mirror image!–so no good for life)
Why is the concept of molecular degradation a challenge for abiogenesis?
Biomolecules can degrade quickly or react with other unfavorable substances rapidly, which poses a challenge for their accumulation and the formation of complex life without protective or intelligently-guided mechanisms.
What is Atheism?
Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of supernatural God(s).
What is the Levinthal paradox, and how does it argue against abiogenesis?
highlights the EXTREME improbability of proteins folding into their functional 3-D shapes/conformations through random chance, suggesting a guided process being required!
Define Materialism/Naturalism.
It’s the philosophical stance that everything arises from natural properties and causes, excluding supernatural explanations.
Describe Theism.
The belief in the existence of one or more God(s).
Explain Young-Earth Creationism.
The belief in Earth and life’s creation by God over 7, 24-hour days, around 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
What does Agnosticism mean?
The belief that the existence of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable.
What is Old-Earth Creationism?
The belief that Earth and life were created by God, aligning with mainstream science’s age estimates for Earth and the Universe.
Define Theistic Evolution.
The belief in supernaturally-guided evolutionary processes by which God created life’s diversity, combining evolution with belief in God as the creator.
What is the Theory of Intelligent Design?
The assertion that certain universe and life features are best explained by an intelligent cause, not by natural selection, multiverses, or random chance.
What is Abiogenesis?
A theory that life on Earth arose from natural arrangements of non-living chemicals, unguided.
Explain The Big Bang Theory.
The cosmological theory describing the Universe’s early, hot, dense state that expanded rapidly, forming the current cosmos, including all space-time, energy, and matter at that exact instant
Explain Steady-State Theory
The idea that the universe is eternal (no beginning or end) that athiests used to believe (to explain away the need for a creator) before evidence came out for the Big Bang/Beginning of the Universe.
Explain the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and what it is used as evidence for
- Big Bang: Heat left over from the Big Bang explosion can still be seen throughout the universe; implying that an explosion happened, and the universe is not eternal
- Age of Universe: From scientists studying the Big Bang’s leftover heat’s properties, they estimate how long this leftover heat has been traveling
Explain How we know the Universe is expanding
- Hubble showed that distant galaxies are moving away from us faster than closer ones. Galaxies look blue if moving towards us, and red if moving away
- Hubble’s Law and the Expansion of the Universe: Studying how quickly galaxies are moving away from us, we can traceback how quickly the universe is expanding, and therefore, when it began.
Explain How Einstein’s theory of relativity in relation to the Big Bang
- Space, time, gravity are linked by mass/matter and energy; all of which began at the same time, at the beginning of the universe!
- Therefore, what caused the Big Bang must be spaceless, timeless, and immaterial: GOD!! God doesn’t need a creator since he exists outside of time (He has no beginning or end).