An apparatus is drawn: a closed flask containing CH4, H2, NH3 and water vapour at 800°C, with electrodes passing an electric discharge through the gases. A condenser below cools the gases, and liquid collects in a trap. What was observed, and what did it support?
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S.L. Miller in 1953 created an electric discharge in a closed flask of CH4, H2, NH3 and water vapour at 800°C and observed amino acids forming. This supported the Oparin–Haldane idea of chemical evolution of organic molecules from inorganic ones.
- A.
The experiment showed amino acids; it says nothing about DNA preceding RNA.
- B.
No cells formed, and the experiment does not support spontaneous generation.
- D.
Panspermia says life came from outer space; the experiment shows organic molecules forming on Earth.
NCERT: Class 12 Biology, Chapter 6, 6.1