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Tiny 'microlightning' flashes inside water droplets may have sparked life on Earth
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/life-water-drops-lightning-spark-b2713583.html-snip-
Now, Dr Zare and his team have an alternate hypothesis that doesn’t require infrequent lightning for the emergence of the early organic molecules.
Their study shows that larger water droplets often carry positive charges and smaller ones negative. When such oppositely charged droplets come close to each other, sparks jump between them. This is what they call “microlightning”.
The researchers sent sprays of room-temperature water through an Early-earth gas mixture containing nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, and used high-speed cameras to document the tiny flashes of light.
The result was the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds like hydrogen cyanide, the amino acid glycine, and the RNA chemical uracil.
-snip-
Now, Dr Zare and his team have an alternate hypothesis that doesn’t require infrequent lightning for the emergence of the early organic molecules.
Their study shows that larger water droplets often carry positive charges and smaller ones negative. When such oppositely charged droplets come close to each other, sparks jump between them. This is what they call “microlightning”.
The researchers sent sprays of room-temperature water through an Early-earth gas mixture containing nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, and used high-speed cameras to document the tiny flashes of light.
The result was the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds like hydrogen cyanide, the amino acid glycine, and the RNA chemical uracil.
-snip-