Life on Earth formed by meteorites

If meteors do not carry the necessary chemicals for life down to Earth a few billion years ago, perhaps creatures will not appear on our planet.

>>>Meteors bring gold to the earth

Telegraph reported that Dr. Terry Kee, a cosmological biologist at the University of Leeds in the UK, believes that when meteorites bombarded the earth several billion years ago, many of them fell into waters around active volcanoes. Water is located near a slightly acidic active volcano because it dissolves material from volcanoes. Thanks to mild acidity, water interacts with meteorites to create the first chemical compounds.

To demonstrate, Kee drops iron-containing meteorites into mildly acidic water and sees phosphate compounds forming. After being heated to about 80 degrees C, phosphate compounds turn into pyrophosphate - the substance that makes up adenosine triphosphate (ATP) . ATP allows every living cell to turn sugars into energy to perform activities within the cell.

A meteorite has a mass of about 10 tons
discovered in Canada in 2008. (Photo: Telegraph)

'We have clear evidence of matter in the universe, like meteors, that contain many chemicals needed for life. Meteors are fragments of the oldest objects in the solar system. So their physical composition can provide clues about the Earth's appearance and environment a few billion years ago , 'Kee said.

Kee explained that the team immersed the meteorite in acidic water and heated it like the meteors fell into the waters around the volcano and then heated when lava volcanoes flow into the water.

'If acid rain hits the surface meteors, the chemicals needed for life will also escape from meteorites,' he added.