chemical evolution

1. The formation of complex organic molecules (see also organic molecule ) from simpler inorganic molecules through chemical reactions in the oceans during the early history of the Earth ; the first step in the development of life on this planet . The period of chemical evolution lasted less than a billion years.

Notes

Some scientists believe that all or most of the Earth's original organic molecules were created in space and were brought to the Earth's oceans by meteorites .

Many of the steps in chemical evolution can now be reproduced in the laboratory.