• Question: How did life begin?

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      • Royal Society of Chemistry: Find out more about:
      Asked by Lizziexoxo to Alan, Becky, Jo, Sankar, Sarah on 9 Mar 2015.
      • Photo: Alan McCue

        Alan McCue answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        I honestly don’t know! this is an extremely difficult question to answer and I’m not sure anyone really knows the answer.

      • Photo: Becky Gregory

        Becky Gregory answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        It is thought that life developed from tiny cells that could live in the harsh conditions on the Earth many billions of years ago. Presumably life went through many different stages over millions of years, eventually ending up with cave-men like people who evolved.

      • Photo: Jo Sadler

        Jo Sadler answered on 9 Mar 2015:

        Noone really knows the answer to this, and it also depends on how you define life. Some scientists think the first cells as we know them today came about from mitochondria (the parts of our cells responsible for supplying the cell with energy) invading chloroplasts (now part of a plant cell) and living off each other. From this more complicated cells evolved and gradually we got to life as we know it today..

      • Photo: Sarah Kirk

        Sarah Kirk answered on 13 Mar 2015:

        It’s thought that a spark (from lightning) made the soup from which all life was built. This has been tested in a lab experiment, where they passed electricity through water, oxygen, hydrogen and some other simple chemicals. What they got out of the end was amino acids – the building blocks of life!

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