Refer to the Figure Below Showing the Miller‒Urey Experiment

question 98

Multiple Choice

Refer to the figure below showing the Miller‒Urey experiment. The experiment, which was performed in the 1950s,

• A) showed that Earth's early environment had an atmosphere of N₂, NH₃, CH₄, H₂O, and H₂.
• B) showed that Earth's early atmosphere consisted of a combination of gases that is different from the one that exists today.
• C) proved that carbon dioxide was present in Earth's early atmosphere.
• D) demonstrated prebiotic synthesis of small molecules of life.
• E) led to no meaningful conclusions, because there was no lightning in Earth's early environment.

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Definitions:

DEPT-90

A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy technique that distinguishes between CH and CH3 groups in a molecule by phase modulation.

DEPT-135

A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic technique used to distinguish between carbon atoms with different numbers of hydrogen atoms attached in organic compounds.

Carbonyl

A functional group characterized by a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom, commonly found in aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, and amides.

NMR Spectroscopy

A spectroscopic method that utilizes the magnetic characteristics of specific atomic nuclei to identify the physical and chemical properties of atoms or the molecules they are part of.