Jamee Denham

Period 5
September 13, 2016

Concept Questions 2-3, 7-14

2. Which element makes up most of the detectable mass in the universe?
Hydrogen makes up most of the detectable mass in the universe.
3. Outline the main points in the condensation theory of star and planet
formation.
The early universe was hot, but as it expanded, it cooled. About a million years after the
big bang, temperatures fell enough to allow the formation of atoms from the energy and
particles that had predominated up to that time. About a billion years after the big bang,
this matter began to congeal into the first galaxies and stars.
7. How old is Earth?
Earth is about 4.6 billion years old.
8. How was the moon formed?
A planetary body somewhat larger than Mars smashed into the young Earth and broke
apart. The metallic core fell into Earths core and joined with it, while the rocky mantle
was ejected to form a ring of debris around the Earth. The debris began condensing
soon after and became our moon.
9. Is the world ocean a comparatively new feature of Earth, or has it been around
for most of Earths history?
The worlds ocean was estimated to have been created about 4 billion years ago. If our
Earth was created about 4.6 billion years ago, then Id say yes: our oceans have been
around for most of Earths history.
10. Is Earths present atmosphere similar to or different from its first atmosphere?
The composition of the early atmosphere was much different from todays. Geochemists
believe it may have been rich in carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor, with traces
of ammonia and methane. It was only about 3.5 billion years ago that Earth began to
resemble the atmosphere that we live in today.
11. Are the atoms and basic molecules that compose living things different from
the molecules that make up nonliving things? Where were the atoms in living
things formed?
Life on Earth is formed of aggregations of a few basic kinds of carbon compounds.
Living things and nonliving things may have similar atoms or chemicals in common, but
certain combinations of atoms and molecules are what determine if something is living
or not. It is simply permitted by the physical laws and by the chemical composition of

Jamee Denham
Period 5
September 13, 2016

this planet. There are growing theories that most of the organic materials in these
compounds were transported to Earth by the comets, asteroids, meteors, and
interplanetary dust particles that crashed into our planet during its birth.
12. How old is the oldest evidence for life on Earth? On what are those estimates
based?
In 2002, chemists suggested that organic material may have formed and then been
trapped beneath the ice-- protected from the atmosphere, which contained chemical
compounds capable of shattering the complex molecules. The first living molecules
might have arisen deep below the layers of surface ice, on clays or pyrite crystals at
cool mineral-rich seeps on the ocean floor.
13. Was Earths atmosphere rich in oxygen when life originated here?
No. Supposedly, life began underneath a blanket of ice, protected from the harsh
atmosphere above. The first cells appeared about 3.8 billion years ago, and oxygen
didnt bring life to true cyanobacteria and other things until about 2.5 billion years ago.
14. Would you expect biosynthesis to reoccur today?
No, because living things have changed the conditions in the ocean and atmosphere,
and those changes are not consistent with any new origin of life. For one thing, an
abundance of plants have filled our atmosphere with oxygen.