3 ms·
> This finding supports the authors' original hypothesis. Corrosion on the surface of the glass (due to the hot and caustic water circulating through it) plays
by DanielVZ 5y ago
> This finding supports the authors' original hypothesis. Corrosion on the surface of the glass (due to the hot and caustic water circulating through it) plays a key role, since this releases silicon-dioxide molecules into the solution. This in turn acts as a catalyst to speed up the chemical reactions between the nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen atoms that ultimately create organic molecules. In addition, they found that the corrosion on the glass also forms millions of tiny pits. The authors think those pits could serve as tiny reaction chambers, also speeding up the rate at which organic molecules form in the experiment.
1. It's known to be a catalyst in the chemical reaction
2. They believe that the tiny pits in the corroded glass also speed up the reaction. This could explain why the material of the flask matters.
- wongarsu 5y agoThat sounds like they had a hypothesis, did an experiment, the experiment matches their hypothesis, so they came up with a reasonable explanation why. But if noduerme had done the same experiment with the hypothesis "life can't form in the presence of Teflon" the experiment would have also confirmed his hypothesis, and he would have given you a reasonable explanation why that is. It would have been more convincing/thorough if they had also tried e.g. a steel and a silicon carbide reaction flask.
- burnished 5y agoNo, I don't think so. Organic compounds still formed just fewer. They might reasonably expect that the teflon, being far less reactive, did not appreciably influence the experiment.
- mannykannot 5y agoIf it is not the case that the Teflon + glass pieces run gave a result between the other two, perhaps the next step would be to run the experiment again in the glass vessels, but with pieces of Teflon in them. If Teflon is neutral, the results should match the glass-only run.
- beerandt 5y agoEspecially since there was borosilicate in the teflon tubes, but no teflon in the borosilicate ones.