March 9 – Miller-Urey Experiment
One of the most famous chemistry experiments ever performed was the Miller experiment – first reported in 1952. Over 60 years later this experiment is still presented in biology textbooks worldwide as proof that life formed by itself early in the earth’s history. In this experiment, a researcher named Stanley Miller circulated ammonia, methane, hydrogen, and water vapor through a tube and added sparks in order to cause amino acids to form (coined the “building blocks of life”). Yet, students are seldom told the rest of the story.
In order for these amino acids to form proteins, they must link up in a polymerization reaction that requires both ends of the molecule to remain reactive until the entire protein molecule has formed. Visualize a stack of Legotm blocks – you can keep adding blocks to the top or bottom of the stack until a block with a flat, undented surface is added to either side. Then no more blocks can be added to that side of the stack. It is now no longer “reactive”. In the Miller experiment, a “flat topped Lego block” is always formed – it is called formic acid. Formic acid is the most common molecule formed during the Miller experiment. The instant formic acid reacts with an amino acid the molecules stop linking up. As a result, no useful protein molecules are ever produced in this experiment.
What this experiment actually demonstrates is that life could not possibly have formed in this way! When problems like this are not shown to students, it is deception, not education. So why is this experiment, which does not work to explain life, still cited in biology books over sixty years later? Textbook writers simply cannot accept the logical conclusion that life can only come from a Creator outside of the time, space, and matter universe. The correct explanation for the existence of life (creation by God) has been eliminated from the thinking of generation after generation of students reading such textbooks. Where does life come from? It’s still a mystery to evolutionists but not to Bible-believing Christians – life comes from God.
Genesis 2:7
Reference
Sherwin, Frank, M.A., 2003. “Reheating the Prebiotic Soup”, Acts and Facts by ICR, 32(9).