Francesco Redi Observation Report

1. Redi and Pasteur conducted experiments to disprove spontaneous generation, which is life from nonliving matter. Francesco Redi disproved it by placing three jars with meat chunks in them. One let the meat be exposed to flies as well as air. Jar number two was covered with a piece of cloth. It still held meat and was exposed to air, but not to flies. The last jar was completely covered with no exposure to air or flies. He saw in the first jar maggots came from flies. The other two jars did not produce flies (maggots). The observation showed that maggots could only come from where flies were. Then, Louis Pasteur showed through his experiment that microorganisms could only come from microorganisms. He showed that an area with no life is lifeless. He experimented with two flasks being heated that have a long neck, which the flask contained broth. He eventually broke the neck of one and it allowed for dust (microorganisms) to grow in the broth. The other one held dust in the neck and allowed for no microorganisms to grow in the broth. Pasteur

There are facts that show life in Earth came from other bodies in the solar system. A meteorite was found in 1969 in Australia. This meteorite was carefully handled and put in test tubes for experiment. The results showed that the meteorite contained molecules special for life. It contained purines, ten amino acids, pyrimidines, and sugars. Contamination was avoided in the observation of it. Also, amino acids were right and left handed unlike Earth’s left handed amino acids. Lastly, the isotope ratio of hydrogen and carbon was unique compared to Earth’s ratios. In 1984, a meteorite that landed on Earth 13,000 years ago was found in Antarctica. Scientists found it was from Mars due to the water trapped in the meteorite. It also was observed by temperature. The results showed that the meteorite could contain life, since it was not heated above forty degrees Celsius, thus showing life came from other parts of the solar