CHEMISTRY TO LIFE

ProducersAnother name for

producers?

AUTOTROPHS!

PhotosynthesisProcess of turning light energy from

the sun into chemical energy

Chloroplasts organelles where photosynthesis occurs– Contain chlorophyll = a light-absorbing pigment– Light reaction = splits water by using solar energy– Calvin cycle = links carbon atoms from carbon dioxide into

sugar (glucose)

6CO2 + 6H2O + the sun’s energy C6H12O6 + 6O2

Photosynthesis

Consumers

What are the different types of consumers?

Another name for

consumers?HETEROTROPHS!

RespirationProcess of releasing the chemical energy from glucose to power life

functions

C6H12O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6H2O + ENERGY

Early Earth• 4.5 billion years ago, Earth was a hostile

place

– Severe volcanic and tectonic activity

– Intense ultraviolet energy from the sun

– No oxygen existed in the atmosphere, until photosynthesis developed in microbes

– No life existed

Life’s Origin Hypotheses“PRIMORDIAL SOUP”:

HETEROTROPHIC HYPOTHESIS(now less likely to be true)

– “Soup” of inorganic chemicals dissolved in ocean’s waters

– Amino acids might have formed under these conditions / organic compounds followed including self-replicating RNAs

– Heterotrophic first life forms used organic compounds as energy source

– Miller and Urey created amino acids in lab by passing electricity through mixture of water and compounds

Life’s Origin Hypotheses“PRIMORDIAL SOUP”:

HETEROTROPHIC HYPOTHESIS(now less likely to be true)

Life’s Origin Hypotheses“SEEDS” FROM SPACE: PANSPERMIA

HYPOTHESIS(more plausible than previously thought)

– Microbes from elsewhere in solar system traveled on meteorites that crashed to Earth, seeding our planet with life

– Thought entering our atmosphere (high temp) would destroy any organisms, but meteorite in 1969 found to have amino acids that survived

Life’s Origin HypothesesLIFE FROM THE DEPTHS:

CHEMOAUTOTROPHIC HYPOTHESIS

– First organisms were chemoautotrophs, creating own food from hydrogen sulfide (life originated at deep-sea hydrothermal vents where sulfur was abundant)

– Have shown that it is possible to form amino acids and begin reactions that might lead to life under similar high temperature / pressure conditions

FossilsImprint in stone of a dead organism

Fossil record gives information about the history of past life (shows evidence of mass

extinctions… we can learn from the past)

Evolutionary Relationships

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

– In March 1989, Exxon Valdez oil tanker struck a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound

– Spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil (largest oil spill in U.S. history), which coated the Alaskan coast

– Killed MANY seabirds, sea otters, harbor seals, and numerous types of fish… DESTROYED PRISTINE ENVIRONMENT!!

– Massive clean-up response (skimmed oil from water, soaked it up with materials, dispersed it with chemicals, pressure-washed beaches, burned the oil, etc.)

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Chemistry and the Environment: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

BIOREMEDIATIONAttempt to clean up pollution by enhancing

natural processes of biodegradation by living organisms