I have read on internet in the following website that if early atmosphere contained oxygen, then amino acids, sugars, purines etc. would never have existed because they react with oxygen to form CO2 and H2O.
http://mall.turnpike.net/C/cs/ol1.htm
The practical thing is, if I have a box of sugar with me, it will never react with oxygen in air to form any carbon dioxide and water. So, my question is, why is this such a problem to scientists? Why don't they consider this practical fact that sugar does not oxidises under normal conditions due to which it would have enough time to proceed further to form basis for life?
Or maybe I am missing something significant. Please explain.
http://mall.turnpike.net/C/cs/ol1.htm
The practical thing is, if I have a box of sugar with me, it will never react with oxygen in air to form any carbon dioxide and water. So, my question is, why is this such a problem to scientists? Why don't they consider this practical fact that sugar does not oxidises under normal conditions due to which it would have enough time to proceed further to form basis for life?
Or maybe I am missing something significant. Please explain.
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The conditions in early earth were not like today. They were extreme conditions under which oxygen acts as a stronger oxidizing agent than normal room temperature.
For example take your sugar box(or for that matter any amino acid)and heat it to a very high temperature then bring it in contact with air. Or you can try putting your sugar box in path of an electric arc in a test tube filled with oxygen and see what happens.
The sugar will of course get oxidized into CO2 and H2O. These are the conditions represented by the lava flows, lightnings,thunderstorms and asteroid collisions that were common on the early earth.
Under such conditions if any purine,sugar or amino acid would have been present it would have got oxidized.Even in absence of oxygen it is a matter of sheer luck that the right ingredients got synthesized under such hellish conditions. Add oxygen to that and maybe we would have never been here.
For example take your sugar box(or for that matter any amino acid)and heat it to a very high temperature then bring it in contact with air. Or you can try putting your sugar box in path of an electric arc in a test tube filled with oxygen and see what happens.
The sugar will of course get oxidized into CO2 and H2O. These are the conditions represented by the lava flows, lightnings,thunderstorms and asteroid collisions that were common on the early earth.
Under such conditions if any purine,sugar or amino acid would have been present it would have got oxidized.Even in absence of oxygen it is a matter of sheer luck that the right ingredients got synthesized under such hellish conditions. Add oxygen to that and maybe we would have never been here.
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wow - our current atmosphere has a lot of oxygen and guess what suagar amino acids etc. exist.
What a logical fallicy
there aint no problem
we know when oxygen started being produced by cyanobacteria as iron started percipitating out in the oceans - it was like a mjaor pollutate in its day
your website is not worthe the electrons used to maintain it.
may I suggest a ***GREAT**** book:
"Oxygen, the molecule that made the world" by Nick Lane
What a logical fallicy
there aint no problem
we know when oxygen started being produced by cyanobacteria as iron started percipitating out in the oceans - it was like a mjaor pollutate in its day
your website is not worthe the electrons used to maintain it.
may I suggest a ***GREAT**** book:
"Oxygen, the molecule that made the world" by Nick Lane
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The significant something that you are missing can be found by looking for cyanobacteria in Wikipedia.