"Miles Maxted" bravely wrote to "Mike Ross" (04 Dec 04  07:12:02)
 --- on the heady topic of "Re: a scientific answer"

 MM> G'morning Mike,

 MR> I found it interesting that when watching a story about creating
 MM> clones, the operator applied a small voltage of a few 10's of
 MM> milli-volts to the newly combined egg cell in order to make it
 MM> "take".

 MM> And add in the Miller (name?) experiment which ran high voltage
 MM> strikes into broths of inorganic materials to produce organic
 MM> molecules...

Organic molecules are those with atoms of carbon in them (we are a
carbon based form of life, remember?). What I think you meant was
amino acids were created. Thus the experiment proved that early
conditions on Earth could have resulted in the building blocks of life
raining down from lightning strikes in the atmosphere. Nonetheless it
didn't create life.


 MR> My point being that life starts with a spark of electricity

 MM> Err ... the link between the quoted attempts and the usual genesis
 MM> seems a little strained to me.  For example,  where would a charge
 MM> of electricity come from at the moment of conception or
 MM> germination ?  And if some discharge were vital to the process,
 MM> could not it be thwarted by providing neutralising electrical
 MM> forces ?

All chemical reactions are the re-arrangement atoms and resulting
exchange of electrons which are the carriers of electric charge. There
is energy released or absorbed in every one. That the "energy store"
is the size of a molecule doesn't mean electricty wasn't used.

In fact I've heard of plans to use aluminum to fuel cars because the
energy used to refine the aluminum is in a fashion "stored" in the
material. All that is needed to release it is to make its atoms come
in contact with an oxidizer. Apparently a tough thing to do because
the oxide coating which allows aluminum not to rust forms extremely
quickly and is nearly impenetrable to most oxidizing agents. From what
I recall some 30 to 40% of the electrical energy used to purify the
original aluminum can be harnessed to extract hydrogen from water
(steam, water vapour?). The aluminum is used in a powdered form or
fine pellets IIRC, and the products of the reaction are aluminum oxide
plus hydrogen to burn in a car engine. About as simple as it seems.


 MM> Now that could give new life to that tired disclaimer essential to
 MM> Xmas toys - "Batteries not provided"....

If it has an aluminum wrapper perhaps it already does...

The question being answered is that it takes electricity to get the
reaction started leading to something we recognize as alive. We
recognize this life process in spores turning into bacterium and seeds
turning into trees. It is magical in how it happens but the reverse is
also true when we see something die and the living thing reverts to
lifeless matter to be recycled. Clearly life is more than just
bioelectric for example a wire circuit is no more alive than a rock no
matter how much current flows through it.

 M*i*k*e

... Proud to be a supernova remnant
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30