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Life evolved soon after Earth s formation, befiare any continents were present, during a time when the oceans were chemically and thermally controlled by tectonic processes. Thus, it has been proposed that the life evolved in hot anaerobic submarine environments similar to present-day hydrothermal vent systems. This hypothesis is supported by the observation of structures, thought to be the remains of protocells, in rocks formed by hydrothermal processes 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago. Thus, the first organisms on Earth were probably anaerobic hyperthermophiles. Hydrothermal vent habitats probably offered an additional benefit by providing a stable environment relatively isolated from the catastrophic effects of bolide impacts. In other words, submarine hydrothermal vents coifld have acted as refugia enabling survival of early life forms. 

Denis Hayes was born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, on August 29,1944. He earned his A.B. degree from Stanford University in 1969. At the time that Neison made his first speech about Earth Day, Hayes was enroiied at Harvard University s Kennedy School of Government. Called upon by Nelson and other Earth Day organizers, however, Hayes left Harvard and became national coordinator of Earth Day. Because of his intimate involvement with the environmental movement, it was another 15 years before Hayes was able to complete his graduate studies. In 1985, he was also awarded his degree in environmental law from Stanford. Between 1983 and 1988, Hayes was adjunct professor of engineering at Stanford. 

Any detailed hypothesis concerning the origin of life must, as yet, be considered worthless, because up till now we have no satisfactory information concerning the extremely peculiar conditions which prevailed on the earth at the time when the first organisms developed. 

It is likely that the use of CO remains from the early atmospheric conditions when life first evolved around 4 billion years ago. This follows from the hypothesis that the first organisms were autotrophic (Huber and Wachtershauser, 1997 Russell et al., 1998). Volcanic gases can contain as high as 1% CO. Early life forms evolving in volcanic sites or hydrothermal vents could have used CO as their carbon and energy source. If this scenario is correct, CO metabolism today can be viewed as the extant survivor of early metabolic processes (Huber and Wachtershauser, 1997). The ability to metabolize CO is still important today since about 10 tons of CO are removed from the lower atmosphere of the earth by bacterial oxidation every year (Bartholomew and Alexander, 1979). This helps to maintain CO below toxic levels, except in extreme cases. 

To recap, Earth was formed at 4.5 Ga, water condensed at 4 Ga, and organic molecules were formed thereafter. By 3.5 Ga simple organisms (prokaryotes) were able to survive without O2 and produced NH3. At about the same time, the first organisms that could create O2 in photosynthesis (e.g., cyanobacteria) evolved. It was not until 1.5-2.0Ga that O2 began to build up in the atmosphere. Up to this time, the O2 had been consumed by chemical reactions (e.g., iron oxidation). By 0.5 Ga the O2 concentration of the atmosphere reached the same value found today. As the concentration of O2 built up, so did the possibility that NO could be formed in the atmosphere during electrical discharges from the reaction of N2 and O2. 

The natural abundance of the isotopes of each element is distributed in a given ratio. Plants on the Earth first convert solar energy into biochemical energy the food chain starts from plants. Higher plants fix CO2 by the Calvin-Benson cycle to biosyntiiesize various organic compounds for their constituents. (7) It is known that the enzyme, ribulose-1, 5-diphosphate carboxylase, differentiates a small mass difference between and... 

Gyanobacteiia were apparently the first organisms that developed the ability to use water as the ultimate reducing agent in photosynthesis. As we have seen, this feat required the development of a second photosystem as well as a new variety of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a rather than bacteiiochlorophyll in this case. Ghlorophyll b had not yet appeared on the scene, as it occurs only in eukaryotes. The basic system of aerobic photosynthesis was in place with cyanobacteria. As a result of aerobic photosynthesis by cyanobacteria, the Earth... 

Four billion years ago, when the earth was young and without life, it is believed that there was no oxygen in the air. The earth s atmosphere contained mostly water vapor, nitrogen, methane, and ammonia (Hardison, 1999). When the first organisms developed about 3.8 billion years ago, these atmospheric constituents were used for food and energy. It seems plausible that these early metabolic reactions were facilitated (or catalyzed) by metals such as iron and magnesium (Hardison, 1999). 

Billions of years ago, volcanic activity was responsible for large amounts of methane in the Earth s atmosphere. Subsequently, the first primitive bacteria synthesized methane from GOg and hydrogen, and methane levels did not fall until the arrival of the first organisms to photosynthesize, which generated oxygen (see p81). The concentration of methane in the Earth s atmosphere was around 1800 ppb in 2010, more than double the pre-1750 value. 

Forsyth and co-workers developed the innovative approach of combining rare earths with organic inhibitors to synthesize multifimctional inhibitor compotmds (this approach is discussed in more detail in another chapter of this book). In their first publicatiorr, the authors analyzed the inhibition performance of novel corrosion irrhibitor compoirrtds for mild steel based on ceritrm (III) and substituted carboxylates. From these studies it was concluded that the addition of small concerrtratiorrs of all the synthesized organic REM inhibitors provided improved... 

Carbohydrates are the most widely distributed, naturally occurring organic compounds on Earth. They include some of the first organic compounds to have their structures determined. As such, carbohydrates helped establish and bridge the disciplines of organic chemistry and biochemistry. They played a particularly important role in the development of the field of optical isomerism. 

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