Earth, the Kettle of Life
In the 1950s the theory that life began by lightning striking a solution of simple organic compounds (the primordial soup) to create complex amino acids gained rapid acceptance. The Miller-Urey experiment tested this theory at a micro scale, subjecting a glass container to a sparking electrical charge. The glass labware used, which contained a solution of simple organic and inorganic compounds mimicking what might have been found in a young Earth’s oceans, was borosilicate glassware much like the pyrex pans popular for cooking.
The results of the Miller-Urey experiment corroborated the primordial soup theory to an astounding degree. Amino acids, the building blocks of life on Earth, were created in the lab spontaneously. At the time this was hailed as a major breakthrough in science, a perfectly controlled experiment in an inert environment that could not influence the result. Or was it?
It turns out that borosilicate glassware, when in contact with a highly alkaline substance like the solution used in the Miller-Urey, can behave as a catalyst to chemical reactions. In other words, it can make things happen at the molecular level that otherwise wouldn’t happen. We don’t worry about this when cooking with pyrex glassware because with rare exceptions the food we cook and eat is largely water of a neutral pH.
However, before discounting the results of the Miller-Urey entirely, scientists recently repeated the experiment in three environments: one of borosilicate glass, one of teflon (considered more inert than glass), and one of teflon melded with a small amount of glass. The borosilicate glass environment produced the most amino acids by far, and the teflon environment produced relatively few amino acids. This seems to confirm the fears scientists had about the Miller-Urey, that the outcome was inordinately influenced by the labware, but the third environment’s results raised eyebrows. The teflon containing small amounts of borosilicate glass produced much more amino acids compared to the pure teflon, even though the number was fewer when compared with the pure borosilicate glass.
What does this mean? The most common minerals on this rock we call Earth are silicates. Si is the most common solid element. If the lightning struck the primordial soup of a young Earth the way scientists theorize, then there is a good chance the “kettle” containing the soup was composed at least partly of borosilicates. So, while the container in the Miller-Urey influenced the experiment’s outcome, that influence itself probably mimics the conditions where the spark of life first appeared on Earth, at least partly. The theory remains viable.
Here endeth the lesson on Earth, the kettle of life.
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