CHEMISTRY TO LIFE. Producers Another name for producers? AUTOTROPHS!

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