The evolution of life from \"Impler form to . more compl·form vill. the Second L
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The evolution of life from "Impler form to . more compl·form vill. the Second Law of Thermodynamies I) 2) Se many biological structures and processes are so comples, they cannot have evolved gradually and must have been created by a supernatural being all at once. BIOL422 Test #1 Student Name (Print) Date: No fossil record has been found to show the evolution of life, at least there is no complete fossil record to show the gradual transition of life in all details. 3) 4) The probability to create by chance a regular-sized gene/protein of the exact sequence it currently has is minimally small that is beyond possibility.Explanation / Answer
1] The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy can never decrease over time for any isolated system inwhich neither energy nor matter can enter or leave. In all spontaneous processes, the total entropy always increases and and the process is irreversible. This is what happens in growth and evolution.
Living organisms take in food , water and oxygen and as a result of metabolism , give out breakdown products and heat. Plants take in radiative energy from the sun [ heat] , CO2 and water and change them into organic compounds [ glucose] by photosynthesis. This organic compound is used by all living organisms [ including plants themselves] for various life processes. When the living organisms die, their remains rot and become one with nature. This is a cyclic process. But, overall, the sunlight is from a high temperature source, the sun, and its energy is passed to a lower energy sink , the soil.Thus animals and plants follow the second law of thermodynamics.
If we discuss it in terms of evolution, then it is true that evolution is a one-way process but the total energy and matter remains unchanged. Only the complexity of body design and some body functions has increased.
2] We have enough evidence to suggest that life has gradually evolved on the earth and taken the current complex form over millions of years of gradual change. Even the most complex organisms show genetic and morphological similarity to some ancient ancestor. The presence of certain organisms which show an intermediate structure further justifies the theory of evolution.
Why are fossils found deep down in the earth? How did they get burried ?
Geological evidences show that our earth has not always been the same, It has undergone epochs of climatic and geographical changes. So, how can life evolve in one day ? With every change in the earth's climate or geology, there have been changes in the life form existing on it.
The evolutionary pathway of most of the modern day organisms can be traced and their phylogeny can be determined through their phylogenetic tree. The evidences that point to the gradual complexity of living organism have been scientifically proven and are strong enough to remove any doubt about the origin and gradual evolution of life on the earth
3] Fossil records give us a clue to the origin of ancestors of a species . Time of occurance of the fossilised animal can also be determined approximately by carbon dating [ using the radioactive isotope of carbon] . It is true that there is no complete fossil record and there are missing links but the phyllogeny of some animals is too similar to be ignored.
Fossilisation is an infrequent occurance that is highly dependent on chance. After death, most organisms were eaten by animals, decayed by microbes or weathered away. Only dead organisms that got burried immediately after they died, could escape these destructive processes and turn into fossil. Even then, they may still be destroyed by geological processes like we know that coal was formed from deeply burried vegetation or petroleum is formed from the decomposition of burried animals. These processes take millions of years. So, in such a situation , the chances of losing a link is highly probable.
Fossil remains do provide a strong evidence to gradual evolution of life on the earth.
4] Laboratory experiments have shown that if high voltage current [ above 1000 degree celcius] is passed through air in a closed bell-jar, then tiny protein molecules are formed. This happens when nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen present in the air, combine in the correct proportions.
Maybe this is what happened millions of years ago, by chance, and gave rise to the protein molecules which ultimately formed the first DNA molecule, the basis of all life on the earth. So, most probably, life happened by chance on the earth and the ideal conditions on our planet nurtured it and helped it to evolve to give rise to the unbelievable diversity that we have today.
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