Origin of life exercises

A origin of life has already been explained through several theories over the years, hypotheses ranging from Creationism to big Bang.

We prepared a origin of life worksheet so you can test your knowledge of how the first forms of life formed on planet Earth.

You can consult the template and save this list of exercises in PDF at the end of the post, enjoy!

Origin of life exercises

1) (UNICENTRO) There are many discussions about the origin of life on planet Earth. Studies on the subject show the importance of technological advances and research to improve hypotheses about the origin of life. However, after a few centuries of studies, despite considerable advances, there are still many unanswered questions. About the main theories of the origin of life, it can be said:

a) Haldane and Oparin admitted that inorganic molecules, found in the primitive atmosphere, would combine giving rise to simple organic molecules, which subsequently acquired the capacity for self-replication and metabolism.

b) the theory of abiogenesis was confirmed with the research carried out by Pasteur, in which microorganisms were found in flasks with “swan necks”, after the boiling process.
c) technological advances and current research have made it possible to define the discovery of life as being through the evolution of inorganic components originating on planet Earth itself.
d) according to panspermia, the first living beings would have come from the cosmos and would have been pluricellular and autotrophic.
e) the research carried out could prove the autotrophic hypothesis, as there were not enough nutrients on the primitive Earth to supply living beings.

2) (UFRGS) The following drawing schematically represents the device that Miller used in his experiments, in 1953, to test the production of amino acids from a mixture of methane, hydrogen, ammonia and water subjected to electrical discharges:

I – With this experiment, Miller demonstrated that there was production of amino acids in conditions similar to those that existed in the primitive atmosphere of the Earth.
II – As the circulation of the material inside the device is completely isolated from the external environment, there was no possibility of contamination with other substances.
III – Substances resulting from chemical reactions accumulated in 3 and 4.
IV – With this experiment, Miller also discovered the chemical composition of the Earth's primitive atmosphere.

The statements are correct:

a) I and II.
b) II and IV.
c) III and IV.
d) I and III.
e) II and III.

3) (UCPel) The agglomerate of organic molecules, coated by a film of water molecules and which, in the opinion of some scientists, may be one of the first steps towards the origin of life, it's called:

a) amino acid.
b) coacervate.
c) microorganism.
d) enzyme.
i) protein.

4) (UEL) Charles Darwin, in addition to postulating that living organisms evolved through the action of natural selection, he also considered the possibility that the first forms of life arose in some tepid lake of our Planet. However, there are other theories that try to explain how and where life arose. One of these, panspermia, holds that:

a) the first forms of life may have emerged in the most inhospitable regions of the Earth, such as hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the oceans.
b) simple organic compounds, such as amino acids, may have been produced abiotically in various parts of the planet Earth.
c) ancestral bacteria may have appeared all over the Earth, depending on the minimum requirements necessary for their formation and subsistence.
d) the replication capacity of the first organic molecules was what allowed them to spread through the Earth's primitive oceans.
e) life originated outside Planet Earth, having been brought by meteorites, comets or else by space dust.

5) (UNIFAL) From the beginning of life on Earth, until the appearance of current living beings, several events took place, such as:

I – Formation of the first cells;
II – Formation of complex organic molecules;
III – Appearance of organisms capable of producing food through photosynthesis;
IV – Emergence of the first aerobic organisms.

Mark the alternative that indicates the most accepted order, currently, for the occurrence of these events.

a) I – II – IV – III.
b) II – III – IV – I.
c) I – IV – III – II.
d) II – I – III – IV.

6) (MACKENZIE) Analyze the statements.

I – According to the heterotrophic hypothesis, organisms with this type of nutrition were the last to emerge.
II – The emergence of photosynthetic organisms allowed the emergence of aerobic respiration.
III – Under certain circumstances, it was possible for organic substances to emerge from inorganic substances.
IV – The emergence of coacervates allowed some molecules such as DNA to remain intact for longer.

Of the above statements concerning the origin of living beings, only the following are correct:

a) II, III and IV.
b) II and III.
c) III and IV.
d) I and II.
e) I and IV.

7) (CESGRANRIO) American scientists discover in a meteorite from Mars, which fell over Antarctica, strong evidence of life beyond Earth. Among the certainties and doubts raised by this fact, still in the light of current theories, we can state that the first forms of life that appeared on our planet were:

a) all autotrophs due to the scarcity of food in the primitive oceans.
b) fermenters that used radiant energy to produce their organic molecules.
c) heterotrophs that used substances formed in the atmosphere and accumulated in the primitive seas.
d) primitive fungi capable of photosynthetic activity.
e) aerobic thanks to the abundance of oxygen atoms existing in ocean waters.

8) (UFC) The definition of life is the subject of much debate. According to Biology, the beginning of life on Earth happened with:

a) the “big bang”, which gave rise to the universe and, consequently, to life.
b) the increase in atmospheric O‚ levels, which allowed the proliferation of aerobic beings.
c) the emergence of coacervates, which, in aqueous solutions, are capable of creating a membrane, isolating organic matter from the external environment.
d) the emergence of a phospholipid bilayer, which involved molecules capable of self-replication and metabolism.
e) the cooling of the atmosphere, which provided a favorable condition for the origin of precursor molecules of life.

9) (UFCSPA) Mark the incorrect alternative:

a) organs of different evolutionary and that present the same function are called analogous.
b) comparative anatomy, embryology and biochemistry, as well as the study of fossils, are evidence of the evolution of species.
c) organs of the same evolutionary origin, although they may have different functions, are called homologues.
d) some of Alexander Oparin's ideas about the origin of life were experimentally proven by Stanley Miller and Sidney Fox.
e) one of Louis Pasteur's experiments corroborated the theory of spontaneous generation.

10) (ENEM) The graph below represents the evolution of the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere over geological time. The number 100 suggests the current amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, and the other values ​​indicate different percentages of that amount.

According to the graph, it is correct to say that:

a) the first forms of life arose in the absence of O2.
b) the primitive atmosphere had 1% oxygen content.
c) after the beginning of photosynthesis, the oxygen content in the atmosphere remains stable.
d) since the Precambrian, the atmosphere has maintained the same levels of oxygen content.
e) on the evolutionary scale of life, when amphibians appeared, the atmospheric oxygen content had already stabilized.

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