Primordial Soup Theory

The Primordial Soup Theory suggest that 3.8 billion to 3.55 billion years ago
life began in a pond or ocean as a result of the combination of chemicals
from the atmosphere and some form of energy to make amino acids, the
building blocks of proteins, which would then evolve into the first species on
Earth.
Primordial soup is a term introduced by the Soviet biologist Alexander
Oparin. In 1924, he proposed the theory of the origin of life on Earth through
the transformation, during the gradual chemical evolution of molecules that
contain carbon in the primordial soup. Biochemist Robert Shapiro has
summarized the "primordial soup" theory of Oparin and Haldane in its
"mature form" as follows:
1. The early Earth had a chemically reducing atmosphere.
2. This atmosphere, exposed to energy in various forms, produced
simple organic compounds ("monomers").
3. These compounds accumulated in a "soup", which may have been
concentrated at various locations (shorelines, oceanic vents etc.).
4. By further transformation, more complex organic polymers - and
ultimately life - developed in the soup.
Whether the mixture of gases used in the Miller-Urey experiment truly
reflects the atmospheric content of early Earth is a controversial topic. Other
less reducing gases produce a lower yield and variety. It was once thought
that appreciable amounts of molecular oxygen were present in the prebiotic
atmosphere, which would have essentially prevented the formation of
organic molecules; however, the current scientific consensus is that such was
not the case.
One of the most important pieces of experimental support for the "soup"
theory came in 1953. A graduate student, Stanley Miller, and his professor,
Harold Urey, performed an experiment that demonstrated how organic
molecules could have spontaneously formed from inorganic precursors,
under conditions like those posited by the Oparin-Haldane Hypothesis. The
now-famous "Miller-Urey experiment" used a highly reduced mixture of gases
- methane, ammonia and hydrogen - to form basic organic monomers, such
as amino acids. This provided direct experimental support for the second
point of the "soup" theory, and it is around the remaining two points of the
theory that much of the debate now centers.

Apart from the Miller-Urey experiment, the next most important step in
research on prebiotic organic synthesis was the demonstration by Joan Oro
that the nucleic acid purine base, adenine, was formed by heating aqueous
ammonium cyanide solutions.
In support of abiogenesis in eutectic ice, more recent work demonstrated the
formation of s-triazines (alternative nucleobases), pyrimidines (including
cytosine and uracil), and adenine from urea solutions subjected to freezethaw cycles under a reductive atmosphere (with spark discharges as an
energy source).
The spontaneous formation of complex polymers from abiotically generated
monomers under the conditions posited by the "soup" theory is not at all a
straightforward process. Besides the necessary basic organic monomers,
compounds that would have prohibited the formation of polymers were
formed in high concentration during the Miller-Urey and Oro experiments.
The Miller experiment, for example, produces many substances that would
undergo cross-reactions with the amino acids or terminate the peptide chain.
More fundamentally, it can be argued that the most crucial challenge
unanswered by this theory is how the relatively simple organic building
blocks polymerize and form more complex structures, interacting in
consistent ways to form a protocell. For example, in an aqueous environment
hydrolysis of oligomers/polymers into their constituent monomers would be
favored over the condensation of individual monomers into polymers.
The Primordial Soup Theory suggest that life began in a pond or ocean as a
result of the combination of chemicals from the atmosphere and some form
of energy to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, which would
then evolve into all the species
The Primordial Soup Theory states that Life began in a warm pond/ocean
from a combination of chemicals that forms amino acids, which then make
proteins. This is suppose to happen at least 3.8 billion to 3.55 billion years
ago.
The Russian Chemist A.I. Oparin and English Geneticist J.B.S. Haldane first
conceived of this idea. Both developed this theory independently in 1920.
In this theory, the basic building blocks of life came from simple molecule
which formed in the atmosphere (w/o oxygen). This was then energized by
lightning and the rain from the atmosphere created the "organic soup". The
first organisms would have to be simple heterotrophs in order to survive by
consuming other organisms for energy before means of photosynthesis. They

would become autotrophs by mutation. Evidence now suggest the first

organisms were autotrophs
Chemist Stanley Miller and physicist Harold Urey did a famous experiment in
1950 to test this theory. They mixed gases thought to be present on primitive
earth:

Methane (CH4)
Ammonia (NH3)
Water (H2O)
Hydrogen (H2)
No Oxygen
They then electrically sparked the mixture to signify lightning. The results
were amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. It was later discovered that
other energies also can excite gases and produce all 20 amino acids
Electricity
Ultraviolet light
Heat
Shock

Amino acids forming Proteinoids