The Formation of the Earth - Assignment Example

The theory, however, fails to account for the possibility of the huge inconceivable numbers of comets that could have collided or passed near earth for this to have happened.
It is believed that during the formation of the earth e.g. the big bang process and later developments, the materials that formed it contained large amounts of water that condensed and later collected, resulting in its large surface water volumes. Though this could be a possibility, the earth’s surface was less massive during the development stages leading to its gravity being too weak to hold the waters from escaping its surface at that stage. This fails to explain the almost immediate existence of water after the earth’s formation.

Question .3
The Snowball earth theory explains that at least once, massive glaciations occurred on earth that left almost the whole of it--if not its entire surface -- completely frozen. The theory has convincingly tried to explain the existence of similar sedimentary deposits found especially at the tropical paleolatitudes. Despite the many suppositions of the theory, it however, cannot feasibly be dependent on as it contradicts known facts and theories such as the origin of glacial models and the slushball earth hypothesis.

Question .4
The surface of Europa is believed to be covered in thick ice crust, which prompts scientists to conclude that there is a possibility of a large salty water body rich in chemicals beneath the ice. These combined, form necessities required by extreme microbial life forms to thrive. The heat from tidal flexing regulates the energy changes and provides the necessary energy for microbe survival. Sulfur and sulphuric acid deposits in Europa have little resemblance with some extreme conditions on earth where microbes like pioneering bacteria evolved and mastered basic survival skills without directly getting their energy from the sunlight. All these basic life requirements form the basis for the hypothesis that Europa is capable of supporting life.

Question.5
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are made up of numerous pores. These pores created large reservoirs of different minerals which reacted with the acidic and iron-rich seawater, forming the most basic building blocks for RNA synthesis. Conditions such as the electrochemical gradient that existed between the acidic sea water and the vent environment added up to the catalysis processes of the reactant in the vent pores, thereby triggering spontaneous reactions toward RNA synthesis. Other factors such as diffusion and thermal currents ensured higher nucleotide concentrations hence speeding the RNA formation process and further development into DNA, and finally into proteins: which is the building block of all organisms. Read More