Re: how do we know that the primodal soup ever existed?

i think that one can safetly assume that there was some type of primordial 
soup (a stew of inorganic and organic chemicals present before life arose). 
 much is known about planet formation and it wouldn't be likely that 
any living thing was present on the earth while it formed (or cooled down 
to a reasonable temperature).  the interesting part is asking what was its 
chemical composition and what type of environment (temperature, light 
exposure, etc...) existed......and, of course, if it could have provided 
the means for life to develop.  many amino acids and other simple organic 
molecules have been shown to form during electrical discharges in different 
atmospheres (some were simulations of prebiotic atmospheres and some not, 
but i couldn't list them all!).  other experiments have provided evidence 
that a meteorite penetrating our atmosphere will also produce some of these 
molecules.  outside of our atmosphere there is a wealth of polyaromatic 
hydrocarbons leading to another possible precursor to life (these 
ubiquitous molecules are found in all organisms).  the main school of 
thought argues that life arose from compounds that were present on the 
early earth and that there were many small steps on the way to life as we 
know it (one of the most important being an "rna world").  there is a 
smaller (but interesting) following that suggests that the primordial soup 
could not have produced life (or never had the chance) and that life came 
from somewhere outside earth or seeded the earth to allow life to develop 
(this is called panspermia....see link below). this is just a basic 
overview of what i have seen in a few papers and on the www.  the subject 
is very interesting and you should read the different opinions and evidence 
offered by different people.  following is a few of the websites that i 
obtained information from.  they all have good links too.  take care!


http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~ianm/itself.htm
http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/95articles/cdeduve.html
http://www.panspermia.org/