Before Anything Could Evolve, Something Had to Copy Itself

You'll learnhow chemistry could get from a lifeless planet to the first thing that copies itself — and why that is not an evolution question.

Unit 7 has spent twelve topics on what happens to life once it exists. None of that answers the question underneath: where did the first thing capable of copying itself come from? That is abiogenesis, a chemistry question, and this is the bridge it has to cross. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.

AP BIOLOGY · 12 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · ABIOGENESIS ≠ EVOLUTION · MONOMERS → POLYMERS → RNA → A BAG · v6

abiogenesis · chemistry to the first replicator

Before you start

What you're looking at

Early Earth: a lifeless sea, volcanic peaks and lightning, with no free oxygen in the air.

The question

Where did the first thing that could copy itself come from, and is that an evolution question?

Step 1 / 12