Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Why is this in Life Sciences?

Boru

Atmospheric science is part physics, part chemistry, part biology.

It’s not, you know.

Boru

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hmmm, that is tenuous.

Miller-Urey experiment.

That didn’t fall under ‘atmospheric science’. It was a chemistry experiment.

Boru

[Jehanne]

Miller-Urey experiment.

That didn’t fall under ‘atmospheric science’. It was a chemistry experiment.

Boru

The experiment used water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen (H2). The chemicals were all sealed inside a sterile 5-liter glass flask connected to a 500 ml flask half-full of water. The water in the smaller flask was heated to induce evaporation, and the water vapor was allowed to enter the larger flask. Continuous electrical sparks were fired between two electrodes, in the larger flask, to simulate lightning in the water vapor and gaseous mixture, and then the simulated atmosphere was cooled again so that the water condensed and trickled into a U-shaped trap at the bottom of the apparatus.

Wikipedia -- Miller–Urey experiment

[Anomalocaris]

Hmmm, that is tenuous.

Miller-Urey experiment.

miller-urey experiment depends on the hot channel temperature seen in troposphere lightning, interacting with near normal atmophere pressures, and atmosphere made up of organic that can’t survive in the mesosphere.

Sprites are cold florescence phenomenon possible only in extremely tenuous mesosphere  way above the altitude where UV would dissociate organic in a miller Urey atmophere composition. 

think of sprites as a giant natural cool low energy fluorescent light tube instead of sparkly zappy stuff and dangerous voltages seen in caricatures of mad scientist laboratories.

in any case, it is now well known that Miller Urey was on the wrong track because what they thought was representative of the primordial atmophere composition of the earth didn’t actually resemble the primordial atmophere composition of the earth.   In addition lightning has fallen way out of favor as the spark, so to speak, of life for the simple reason that anything lightning can make in a flash would disperse and decay in the comparative eternity between lightnings.

So origin of life is seem more likely to have occurred in tiny pots that stewed slowly and kept the reagents together than big ponds zapped by lightning.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

That didn’t fall under ‘atmospheric science’. It was a chemistry experiment.

Boru

The experiment used water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3), and hydrogen (H2). The chemicals were all sealed inside a sterile 5-liter glass flask connected to a 500 ml flask half-full of water. The water in the smaller flask was heated to induce evaporation, and the water vapor was allowed to enter the larger flask. Continuous electrical sparks were fired between two electrodes, in the larger flask, to simulate lightning in the water vapor and gaseous mixture, and then the simulated atmosphere was cooled again so that the water condensed and trickled into a U-shaped trap at the bottom of the apparatus.

Wikipedia -- Miller–Urey experiment

Which describes a chemistry experiment. 

Boru

[Jehanne]

Wikipedia -- Miller–Urey experiment

Which describes a chemistry experiment. 

Boru

Which involved electrical discharges (lightning) to simulate our World's primordial atmosphere.

As I said, please feel free to move the thread.