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The '''Miller-Urey experiment''' was the first attempt to reverse-engineer the conditions in [[earth]]'s [[atmosphere]] that produced [[abiogenesis]] – the production of life from non-life. By recent analysis, the experiment did produce as rich a mixture of [[amino acid]]s as life would require. But it produced those acids in a racemic mixture, and even secular scientists are not willing to accept this as the definitive proof of how life began.
The '''Miller-Urey experiment''' was the first attempt to reverse-engineer the conditions in [[earth]]'s [[atmosphere]] that produced [[abiogenesis]] – the production of life from non-life. By recent analysis, the experiment did produce as rich a mixture of [[amino acid]]s as life would require. But it produced those acids in a racemic mixture, and even secular scientists are not willing to accept this as the definitive proof of how life began.
==The 1953 experiment==
[[File:MillerUreyExperiment.PNG|300px|thumb|left|The setup of the Miller-Urey Experiment of 1953. It attempted to simulate primitive Earth gases (Methane, Ammonia, Hydrogen, Water Vapor), primitive oceans (Water), and lightning.]]
In 1953, Stanley Miller reported the production of biomolecules from simple gaseous starting materials using an apparatus constructed to simulate the primordial Earth's atmosphere-ocean system. Miller used what he thought was primitive gases that would be available on a primitive earth: 200 ml of H2O, 100 mmHg of H2, 200 mmHg of CH4, and 200 mmHg of NH3 into the equipment. In other words the ratio was 2:1:2:2 for H2O, H2, CH4, and NH3. Then he subjected this mixture, under reflux, to an electric discharge simulating lightning for a week while the water was simultaneously heated for that time period.<ref name="exp setup">Parker, E. T., Cleaves, J. H., Burton, A. S., Glavin, D. P., Dworkin, J. P., Zhou, M., Bada, J. L., Fernández, F. M. [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4089479/ Conducting Miller-Urey Experiments]. J. Vis. Exp. (83), e51039, doi:10.3791/51039 (2014).</ref>
[[Category:Biology]] [[Category:Evolution]]
[[Category:Biology]] [[Category:Evolution]]