Part 6 - The First Replicators

So what were the early seas like? They were thick, with various chemical compounds and less salty. They had no life in them, only simple chemicals, other molecules and weren't as clear as the seas we have today. Of course there was no life in the seas as there was no life on earth then.

Not long after these seas were formed, the chemistry that was taking place between the different elements and simple chemical compounds formed more complicated molecules, which can still be found today - amino acids. These are the building blocks of all the different proteins that make up the bodies of humans, plants and animals.

Amino acids are made up of basic carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. They're like the earlier chemical compounds, only more complex, coming together naturally when the conditions are right, as hydrogen and oxygen did, combining in a relationship that gave us water.

Now these molecules got bigger and more complex in their organisation and some of these molecules found that they had an effect on other smaller molecules or parts of molecules around them. Atoms and pieces of organic molecules lined up next to the section of those large molecules they had the greatest affinity for. The molecules which have this ability are called replicators, producing either copies of themselves or mirror image of themselves, made up of different atoms which were most attracted to them.

These early atoms and molecules joined in every possible way they could, given their circumstances, some groupings becoming very stable while others unstable. The stable molecules would continue to exist and the unstable ones would break up, their atoms being used to make up the stable molecules. Meaning there were no more unstable groupings.

So molecules able to replicate themselves formed an increasingly large population of the total population of molecules in the sea. There were always new types of molecules, faster replicators, better replicators, more stable replicators.

Now, a new major characteristic came along to aid the survival of these molecules - the ability by some molecules to break up other existing molecules into their basic parts to further their own purposes. Now this in turn led to some molecules developing a protection against these predator molecules. They developed a covering which would isolate them from the surrounding environment and protect them from the predator molecules. These molecules, being able to protect themselves, developed into larger and more complex forms.

Which brings us to the first one celled living organisms...