While it is nearly impossible to recreate an event which happened billions of years ago, one must keep in mind the scientific meaning of the term “theory.” It’s not just an assumption thrown together based on other random guesses. It is a general explanation which covers the known facts. About 3.5-3.8 billion years ago the Earth’s atmosphere was made up of nitrogen, ammonia, methane, and hydrogen. This seems plausible because of the fact that there are planets with gases different and in different quantities than those of our own planet. There was little or no oxygen. The Primordial Soup Theory suggests that a “soup” of organic molecules could be created in an oxygen-less atmosphere through the action of the sun, lightning, or volcanic activity fueling the chemical reactions. These would combine in ever-more complex fashions until they formed coacervate droplets, or tiny spherical droplets of assorted organic molecules which are held together by hydrophobic forces from a surrounding liquid. The droplets would fuse, grow and reproduce, evolving into more complex organisms.
First conceived in 1924 by Russian Chemist Aleksandr Ivanovich Oparin and another scientist by the name of J.B.S. Haldane (of which both men thought of this theory independently meaning they did not work together), this theory could not be tested until 29 years after it was thought of, because all they had was circumstantial data.
Many people will argue that there are no successful experiments to prove this theory could be plausible, but there have actually been many. One recorded experiment is the Urey-Miller experiment. This experiment proves that it is possible for life to form without the help of other forms of life. This theory is one of the most full-proof theories we have because it explains how life came to be. There are other theories such as the meteorite theory and dare I mention creationism, which is simply absurd. The major fault in the meteorite theory is that while it suggests a meteorite slammed into earth and organisms came to earth from that, it fails to mention where that life came from. The Primordial Soup Theory did not necessarily happen on Earth, it could co-exist with the meteorite theory.
I do not completely agree that The Primordial Soup Theory explains how life began, but it’s the best explanation out there, in my opinion. So until something better comes along, or I somehow gain the abilities and knowledge to figure it out for myself, I’m sticking with the scientists’ answers.
