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Did Life on Earth Come from 'Microlightning' Between Charged Water Droplets?

Some scientists believe life on earth originated in organic matter in earth's bodies of water more than 3.5 billion years ago," reports CNN. "But where did that organic material come from...?" Maybe electrical energy sparked the beginnings of life on earth — just like in Frankenstein: Rese...

Now, new research published March 14 in the journal Science Advances suggests that fizzes of barely visible "microlightning," generated between charged droplets of water mist, could have been potent enough to cook up amino acids from inorganic material. Freeing up atoms from nitrogen gas requires severing powerful molecular bonds and takes an enormous amount of energy, according to astrobiologist and geobiologist Dr. Amy J. Williams [an associate professor in the department of geosciences at the University of Florida who was not involved in the research]. (The width of a human hair is 100 microns....) The researchers mixed ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen in a glass bulb, then sprayed the gases with water mist, using a high-speed camera to capture faint flashes of microlightning in the vapor.

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