How did chemisty
and oceans produce this?
Formation of Planetary Atmospheres:
- Condensation of water vapor is crucial
- Main steps in evolution of the
Earth's Atmosphere
- On this planet it was too
cold for water vapor to condense. Hence the atmosphere is all
Carbon Dioxide
- On this planet it was too
hot for water vapor to condense. Hence the atmosphere is all
Carbon Dioxide
- On this planet it was
just right. The carbon dioxide content of the earth's atmosphere
is now all locked up in rocks.
There are hence two keys to the evolution of planetary atmospheres:
- Fate of the water vapor (gaseous, liquid, solid)
- Fate of the Carbon Dioxide (stays in atmosphere vs. dissolves
in liquid water)
After condensation of water vapor produced the earth's oceans, thus
sweeping out the carbon dioxide and locking it up into rocks, our
atmosphere was mostly nitrogen. Currently, our atmosphere is 72%
nitrogen and 28% oxygen (everything else like H2 and
CO2 exists only in trace amounts). So where did the
oxygen come from?
So now let's make some life over the next billion years or so:
Amino Acids now loosely mixed in the oceans
So now we have some amino acids (monomers) loosely mixed in the oceans.
Liquid medium is important:
- Protects molecules from UV photon disruption
- Ease of transport and Interaction
Next goal is to combine monomers into Polymers (peptide chains)
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The Electronic Universe Project
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