History of Life on Earth

It Started with the Sun

 From a ball of swirling gas a centre point
emerged.
 This centre mass became the Sun.
 99.8% of the entire mass of our solar
system is contained in the Sun.
 Nuclear fusion powers the Sun.
 Essentially 4 H He + energy +2 neutrinos
 This reaction began about five billion years
ago.
 We estimate that the Sun is about halfway
through its life cycle, so we only have
about five billion years to go before the
Sun burns out.
 No Sun no life.
 Some of the gas at the centre as it was
cooling was ejected outwards.
 This gas further cooled and collected to
form the planets, and some other debris.
 Remember that all the masses of the
planets and debris only account for about
0.2% of the entire mass of our Solar
System.
 Luckily at about 1.5 x108 km from the Sun
a little speck formed.
 This is just the right distance from a star
for life, as we know it, to form.
 This little speck became known as the
Earth.
 Once Upon a Time on Earth
 The history of life on Earth began approx.
3.5 billion years ago.
 How this occurred has been and will
continue to be a topic for inquiry.
 Remember people often just thought that life
was life and little questioning occurred.
 Until science came along.
 Scientific evidence indicates that since
life’s beginning, each organism that has
inhabited this planet has been the product
of evolution.
 Evolution is the change of an organism
over time.
 Let’s Visualize
 Could you physically carry $1 billion
dollars?
 Let’s Visualize
 One million dollars would be a stack of
$1000 bills approx. 1 metre high. (1000
bills high)
 A billion dollars would be 1000 metres
high. (1 million bills)
 The Earth was over 1 billion years old
before any kind of life was present.

We can use Radiometric dating, looking at

the amount of radioactive isotopes present
in a sample, to determine the age of
something, including the Earth
 Isotopes are different forms of an element
that have differing atomic masses.
 Half-life is associated with this.
 How long half of a substance will exist as it
decays.
 Carbon-14 is a common one isotope used for
things up to about 50 000 years old.
 Most scientist believe that life on Earth
developed through natural chemical and
physical processes. (p.253 text)
 Essentially nonliving matter reacted to
produce life, due to the presence of the
Sun, and volcanoes.
 These molecules combined to form more
complex molecules and then eventually
life.
 This process of nothing to something is
known as spontaneous origin.
 There are two main models to help explain
this spontaneous origin.
 PrimordialSoup Model, and
 the Bubble model
Explain the Primordial Soup Model.
 This model states that there were many
different types of organic molecules
present in the ocean, like a soup.
 These organic molecules were formed
when energy from the sun, volcanoes and
lightning were added to the oceans.
 Due to high levels of energy these
molecules could freely interact. (More energy
led to electron interactions between molecules.)
 Explain the Bubble Model.
 This model states that the key process to
form chemicals for life took place within
tiny bubbles on the surface of the oceans.
 Underwater volcanic activity released
gases, gases in a liquid form bubbles.
 The bubbles may have protected these
gases from harmful UV rays. (Reactions in
bubbles would happen quicker, which was
a flaw of the primordial soup model”.)
 Bubble cont.
 Most gases are lighter than liquids so they
rose to the surface of the oceans, which
then released these organic molecules
into the air. (Not O2 rich yet.)
 Still able to rise further chemical reactions
were able to occur.
 Some of the more complex molecules
returned to the oceans for more reactions
to take place.
 According to Theory
 What was the importance of oxygen?

 Oxygen was essentially “tied up” with

hydrogen and minerals. This did not allow it
to freely be present in our atmosphere. UV
radiation helped release some oxygen which
eventually formed ozone (O3). Remember
that ozone helps filter UV, too much UV is
bad, it may lead to mutations.
 According to Theory
 What was the first step that led toward
cellular organization?
 Microspheres might have led to cellular
organization.
 Microspheres are short chains of amino acids
that gather into tiny vesicles.
 Microspheres that survived for a long time
may gathered more molecules that led to an
organization.
 According to Theory
 How did the development of heredity
contribute to the successful formation of
life?
 Heredity is a necessary feature of living
things. Microspheres that contained
replicating RNA might have transferred both
their structure and their RNA to offspring.
 Models can change, when might a model
change?
 Models may change as our understanding
increases.

 More information usually changes peoples

thinking.
 The Atmosphere
 Is the Atmosphere an infinite resource?

 Will it always be present in its current

form?
 So long ago the atmosphere was a hostile
place for life as we know it.
 Ammonia, Methane, Carbon Dioxide were
some of the main constituents of our
atmosphere.
 It took an oxygen rich atmosphere for life
to really exist.
 Is there a problem now?
Complex Organisms Development
 See Graphic Organizer on Board
 Write down the definitions for the
following.
 fossil
 cyanobacteria
 eubacteria
 archaebacteria
 endosymbiosis
 Protists
 mass extinction
 Compare and Contrast
 Use a Venn Diagram to show similarities
between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
 Why might mass extinctions be important?
 Project
 Create an interesting Time Line of life on
Earth.
 Start at about 3.5 billion years ago and go
to present day.
 Show at least 25 biological events that
have occurred during this time.
 Due Tuesday 15.01.08