PTYS 214 – Spring2011 Homework #3 available for download on the class website DUE Thursday, Feb. 3 Tonight 7-8 pm at Centennial Hall: Guy Consolmagno "Cosmology: Making Sense of the Universe“ College of Science Lecture Series: Cosmic Origins Class website: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/undergrad/classes/spring201 1/Pierazzo_214/ Announcements
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PTYS 214 – Spring2011 Homework #3 available for download on the class website DUE Thursday, Feb. 3 Tonight 7-8 pm at Centennial Hall: Guy Consolmagno.
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PTYS 214 – Spring2011
Homework #3 available for download on the class website DUE Thursday, Feb. 3
Tonight 7-8 pm at Centennial Hall: Guy Consolmagno "Cosmology: Making Sense of the Universe“ College of Science Lecture Series: Cosmic Origins
Class website: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/undergrad/classes/spring2011/Pierazzo_214/
Useful Reading: class website “Reading Material” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis
Announcements
Some articles in the most recent issue of Astrobiology
The Definition of Life: A Brief History of an Elusive Scientific Endeavor, by S. Tirard, M. Morange, A. Lazcano
Defining Life, by S. A. Benner Look at what scientists do to determine which definition of life they
can use to design missions to seek non-terran life, and what are universal biosignatures to identify life in the universe
Elucidation of an Iterative Process of Carbon-Carbon Bond Formation of Prebiotic Significance, by A. Loison, S. Dubant, P. Adam, P. Albrecht
Laboratory experiments of possible reactions that may have occurred in primitive deep-sea hydrothermal vents identify a process in which reduced metal species (Ni) appear to catalyze the formation of complex organic macromolecules
Quiz #2
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Homework #2
Total Students: 26
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Copying text without citing the source is plagiarism!Use your own words to explain a concept.
Some sentences may be taken verbatim from a source only if they are put in quotes and the source is listed.
Bottom-Up Approach: Summary
1. There are 3 sources of small organic carbon molecules (up to amino acids, sugars) in the prebiotic world
2. Small organic molecules must combine to form the basic sub-units of RNA
3. Polymerization allows for the formation of organic macromolecules
Dilution Problem The primordial soup was probably too dilute in simple
monomers to form very long molecules(a concentration mechanism is required)
The RNA World Short strands of RNA-like molecules were produced spontaneously (with some help, e.g.
minerals)
Eventually some of the RNA-like molecules were able to catalyze their own replication
Copying errors introduced mutations and therefore Darwinian-like evolution
CCU G
GGA C UGGA C U
CCU G A
Some lipids have hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail (amphiphiles)
Example?
Soap!
In solution these lipids can form monolayers, bilayers and bilayer vesicles spontaneously → proto-cells