chemical evolution

Cultural  

1. The formation of complex organic molecules (see also organic molecule) from simpler inorganic molecules through chemical reactions in the oceans during the early history of the Earth; the first step in the development of life on this planet. The period of chemical evolution lasted less than a billion years.

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Some scientists believe that all or most of the Earth's original organic molecules were created in space and were brought to the Earth's oceans by meteorites.

Many of the steps in chemical evolution can now be reproduced in the laboratory.

Example Sentences

Over the past century, scientists have proposed numerous hypotheses, most of them centered on chemical evolution occurring either on Earth or in space.

From Science Daily • Jun. 10, 2026

Are we a fortunate and exceedingly rare outcome of chemical evolution, or is organic biochemistry a regular part of the chemical evolution of the cosmos?

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

She specializes in the early universe, the beginning of the chemical evolution, and the formation of the first stars and galaxies.

From Slate • Feb. 16, 2014

“It changed the whole landscape of the chemical evolution of the universe,” he said.

From New York Times • Feb. 7, 2010

It is to be observed, that in speaking of the heat generated under these circumstances, I do not allude to any chemical evolution of heat from the food in the process of digestion.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus