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

Studies of the chemistry at water droplet interfaces offer new insights into the early stages of life's chemical evolution.

From Science Daily • Jan. 24, 2024

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

We must first notice that no notion of chemical evolution helps us out.

From The Story of the Living Machine A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to the Mechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living Activity by Conn, H. W. (Herbert William)