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Worksheets106 Tree of Life and Origin of Life Spring 2026
Total questions: 28
Worksheet time: 25mins
Miller/Urey and other scientists studying the origin of life have shown that:
Formation of life on early Earth required material from space
Simple cells can be produced in a laboratory using spontaneous generation
Oxygen and water were present in the atmosphere to support life
Organic molecules like amino acids and nucleotides could be produced from abiotic/inorganic molecules
Which came first?
Eukaryotes
Bacteria
Archaea
Both Eukaryotes and Archaea evolved around the same time and they evolved before the Bacteria.
Which came first?
Organic molecules
cells
prokaryotes
eukaryotes
Which question were the scientists trying to answer with this experiment?
Where do cells come from?
How did prokaryotes form cell membranes?
How could organic molecules have formed on the earliest Earth?
What gave rise to the Eukaryotic cell?
Present Earth conditions
Early Earth conditions especially of the earliest Earth atmosphere
The molecules of life could be produced from inorganic molecules
Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, but life did not show until around...
3.8 billion years ago
3.5 billion years ago
200,000 years ago
4.2 billion years ago
RNA World Hypothesis states that ...
RNA in the form of ribozymes may have represented the first life on Earth.
RNA is an important step in DNA transcription and translation.
Amino Acids came first, RNA came later.
RNA was the first protobiont.
What is thought to be the correct sequence of these events, from earliest to most recent, in the evolution of life on Earth?
1. origin of the first cell.
2. origin of organic building block molecules
3. origin of complex molecules being able to copy themselves (reproduction)
4. origin of building block molecules joining into more complex organic molecules and starting to have the ability to do work/respond to the environment
3, 2, 1, 4
4, 1, 2, 3,
3, 1, 4, 2
2, 5, then 3 and 4 but order unclear
What is the simplest definition of life?
Ability to do something (for example: sensing, and responding to the environment).
Ability to reproduce.
Ability to evolve.
Today, all life on Earth shares many characteristics. Which of these is NOT one of the characteristics of all life on Earth?
All life evolves over time.
All life consists of at least 2 cells.
All life reproduces.
All life uses DNA as the information storing molecule and passes on that information to offspring.
All life can do work and actively responds to its environment.
What is a ribozyme?
A ribozyme is a folded RNA molecule that can do 'something' and that can make copies of itself and change over time.
A ribozyme is an enzyme that helps in RNA translation.
A ribozyme is one of the molecules that Miller and Urey were able to synthesize by mimicking the atmosphere of the earliest Earth.
A ribozyme is an organic molecule that originates in deep sea vents.
Which domain is capable of living in extreme environments like hot springs, geysers, or very salty waters?
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukarya
What are the 3 domains?
Bacteria
Eukaryotes
Archaea
Viruses
Single-celled prokarytoes that are classified by their ability to survive extreme conditions are
bacteria
archaea
protists
eukaryotes
Which of the following lists the three domains accepted by most scientists?
Bacteria, Protista, and Eukarya
Bacteria, Fungi, and Protista
Eukaryotes, Archaea, and Bacteria
Archaea, Prokarytoe, and Eukaryote
How many domains are there in the most current tree of life?
six
five
three
two
Biologists generally define life in terms of a group of characteristics possessed by living things. Which of the following are characteristics of living things?
All living things use DNA for information.
All living are made from cells
All living things use energy to do work.
All living things evolve over time.
All living things reproduce.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of ALL living things?
need oxygen and breathe air
ability to move
response to the environment
ability to reproduce
use DNA as the information molecule.
In the past 20 years or so, scientists have conducted a lot of research into the setting of the origin of life. Which ones of these settings have been tested and shown to be possibilities for the earliest chemical life to have arisen?
Small chambers inside carbonaceous asteroids seeding Earth with organic molecules.
The small chambers inside ice crystals providing space to trap and concentrate organic molecules.
The small chambers inside volcanic rock near geothermal vents providing heat for reactions.
The small chambers of clay soils providing space to trap and concentrate organic building block molecules.
What is the RNA World Hypothesis?
The RNA World Hypothesis proposes that RNA molecules similar to ribozymes represent the earliest (chemical) life on Earth.
The RNA World Hypothesis proposes that before cellular life, there was chemical life in the form of RNA molecules that could do 'something', that could replicate/reproduce and that could evolve.
The RNA World Hypothesis proposes that life evolved on the planet RNA, which then seeded Earth with life via an asteroid.
The RNA World Hypothesis could explain why RNA is part of the metabolic pathway of DNA to RNA to Protein.
