What is Life on Earth? Essay

Humans all around the world may be curious about how life started in the past. One might believe some type of god brought them here, while the average geologist would think the big bang theory began the outline of life. There are several stories on how the creation of life began, including: the Chumash, Japanese, and the Chinese.

There is loads we know about living things on our planet, about us walking-talking humans or the weird and wonderful creatures that swim in the seas and soar through the air but we still don’t know for sure…where it all came from! The story begins over 3,500 million years ago and ends today, with you reading this! How did life begin? It is the job of those who study life to try and figure this one out, and after many years of trying there are some brilliant ideas.

Though every living organism is unique, we’re all tied together by three simple needs: food, water,

In the process of natural selection, individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and

What is life? Life is defined as the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death. (Google) It is also defined as the existence of an individual human being or animal. (Google) The most profound and pivotal to me would be that life is defined as the period between the birth and death of a living thing, especially a human being. (Google) Yes, life is defined as stated above; but the essence of life is what you make of it, what you choose to attain and learn from it, and ultimately whether your actions matched your intent.

Life on Earth is what makes Earth, Earth. The planet of life almost became lifeless in

Defining living organisms from nonliving materials can be difficult given the multitude of characteristics defining each. Biologists have identified at least six key properties that appear to be shared by most, or all, living organisms on Earth, according to the 3rd edition of Life in the Universe by Jeffrey Bennett and Seth Shostak. The general properties defining life on Earth are: order, reproduction, growth and development, energy utilization,

Earth as we all know it's Associate in Nursing improbably complicated and fragile network of interconnected systems that have developed slowly over the last four.5 billion years more or less. From the ashes of the massive Bang, this planet emerged as a mass of energy and components. From that new born mass of energy and components evolved structured, dynamic systems of solids, liquids, and gasses. The evolution of this planet continued to unfold over billions of years in such a novel method that eventually conditions arose with the flexibility to foster life.

Exobiology is the science that is concerned with the search for life in outer space; it may be called as astrobiology as well. The search for life in outer space has consumed the imagination of the humankind for long time ago. Nowadays, humankind has made a progress and found major discoveries in the quest for life existence in the universe and outer space because of the advancement of the technology. However, in the past, exobiology was considered as a science without a subject, where the people and other scientists laughed at and ridiculed the famous scientist and biologist Joshua Lederberg when he originated the term exobiology. Some people argue that life exists elsewhere in the universe, however, others believe that life only exist on Earth. A new study reveals that our galaxy, the Milky Way, has 100 billion or so stars, where 17 billion of them are Earth-size alien planets, and probably many more. The huge size of the galaxy increases the probability of life existence in the outer space. Are we alone in the universe? This question has captured the imaginations of scientist, theologians, and astrobiologists. However, they don’t know the answer yet. Understanding the complete definition of life and how life originated, and determining the techniques used for searching for life existence in outer space and evidences found can help to answer the question of “Are we alone in the universe?”

to have life but to be able to support human life. Humans have been wondering if there

Find a media piece—article, video, presentation, song, or other—that recognizes the fundamental concepts of chemistry in biology. Include the link or reference citation for the piece and describe how it helped you better understand how fundamental concepts of chemistry affect biology.

Read each statement. Write a 100-word summary explaining how that media piece supports that statement and include reference citations.

alexander oparin started the hypothesis in 1924. Believes that life was started over 3.8 billion to 3.55 billion years ago in a pond or ocean as a result of chemicals combing from the atmosphere. 2 scientist sealed a mixture of water, ammonia, methane and hydrogen in a flask they heated it and simulated lightning, after a week the scientist found blocks of protein in the flask. Protein is a biomolecule that is essential for life.

Liquid water is the most important factor for life, as we know it. Water is abundant in the galaxy, it is found in cold dense molecular stars as well as hot stellar atmospheres. Liquid water exists at a large range of pressures and temperature.

In the beginning, impacts of very large objects were very common, some as big as Mars or half the diameter of Earth. Collision of large bodies orbiting Earth played a role in its initial tilt of spin axis, the length of its day, direction of spin, and the thermal state of the interior. This violent bombardment continued for 3.9 billion years. Final composition of Earth had several crucial structural effects. Enough metal was present early on to allow formation of an iron and nickel rich core that is partially liquid. This enables a magnetic field that deflects some harmful radiation from reaching the surface. Enough radioactive elements are also present in the core to maintain long term heating which drives plate tectonics. At 4.5 billion years ago, Earth separated into different layers: an inner core (made of iron and nickel), a land layer of lower density material, and an early atmosphere of carbon dioxide and steam. At 3.9 billion years ago, surface temperatures dropped to a range where liquid water could be maintained. Liquid water makes up approximately 75% of the planet's surface today which is roughly what it was then. The most important requirement for life as we know it is the presence of liquid water. This is the one substance that can serve as a universal solvent - that is, it can dissolve and transport minerals and