No Oxygen, No Life

Hyderabad, December 21: Oxygen is a part of humans life.No mammal can survive without oxygen.
The presence of oxygen and organic compounds on planets means a lot to live.

In the search of life in earth, researches have found that the presence of oxygen is the surest sign for life.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University in the US recommend a reconsideration of that rule of thumb.

The findings, published in the journal ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, the researches suggested that oxygen and organic compounds

“Our experiments produced oxygen and organic molecules that could serve as the building blocks of life in the lab, proving that the presence of both doesn’t definitively indicate life,” said Chao He, an assistant research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University.

“Researchers need to more carefully consider how these molecules are produced,” said He.

Oxygen builds up to 20 % of the earth s atmosphere and is robust biogas.

The researchers tested nine different gas mixtures, consistent with predictions for super-Earth and mini-Neptune type exoplanet atmospheres.

"These type of exoplanets are very abundant," researchers said.
Each mixture had the main composition of gases such as carbon dioxide, water, ammonia, and methane, and was heated at temperatures ranging from about 26 to 371 degrees Celsius.

The researchers exposed the mixture to one of two types of energy, meant to mimic energy that promotes chemical reactions in planetary atmospheres: plasma from an alternating current glow discharge or light from an ultraviolet lamp.

Plasma, an energy source stronger than Ultraviolet radiation light, alters electrical activities like lightning and/or energetic particles, and UV light is the main source of chemical reactions in planetary atmospheres such as those on Earth, Saturn, and Pluto.

After performing the experiments continuously for three days, sum total amount of gas is exposed to space, the researchers measured and identified remaining gasses with a mass spectrometer, an instrument that sorts chemical substances by their mass to charge ratio.

The researchers found multiple sources that produced both oxygen and organic molecules that could build sugars and amino acids -- raw materials for which life could begin -- such as formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.

“People used to suggest that oxygen and organics being present together indicates life, but we produced them abiotically in multiple simulations.