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Evolution Project

The document discusses early experiments that disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and helped establish the theory of biogenesis. It describes Redi's experiment showing that flies, not spontaneous generation, produced maggots in meat. It also describes Spallanzani's experiment showing microorganisms did not form spontaneously in boiled broth when sealed flasks remained clear, and Pasteur's experiment using curved-neck flasks to further support that microorganisms in air, not spontaneous generation, caused contamination.

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Samantha Sheffield
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32 views

Evolution Project

The document discusses early experiments that disproved the theory of spontaneous generation and helped establish the theory of biogenesis. It describes Redi's experiment showing that flies, not spontaneous generation, produced maggots in meat. It also describes Spallanzani's experiment showing microorganisms did not form spontaneously in boiled broth when sealed flasks remained clear, and Pasteur's experiment using curved-neck flasks to further support that microorganisms in air, not spontaneous generation, caused contamination.

Uploaded by

Samantha Sheffield
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Biogenesis Samantha Sheffield Mrs.

Beeton A-1

Biogenesis

Spontaneous Generation- The process in which living things could arise from nonliving things. This explains why maggots appeared on rotting meat. Redis Experiment- Tested his hypothesis that meat kept away from adult flies would remain free of maggots. The experimental group included netting-covered jars that contained meat. The control group consisted of uncovered jars that also contained meat. The netting allowed air to enter and prevented flies from landing on the meat. After a few days, maggots were living in the meat in the open jars, but the net covered jars had no maggots. The experiment showed that flies came only from eggs big by other flies. Spallanzanis experiment- Lazzaro Spallanzani designed an experiment to test the hypothesis of spontaneous generation of microorganisms. He hypothesized that microorganisms formed not from air but from other microorganisms. For the experiment, he boiled clear, fresh broth until the flasks filled steam. When the broth was hot, he sealed the flask by melting their glass necks. The control group flasks of broth were left open. The broth in the sealed flasks remained clear and free of microorganisms, while the broth in the open flasks became cloudy because it was contaminated with microorganisms. He concluded that the broiled broth became contaminated only when microorganisms from the air entered the flask.

Pasteurs Experiment-In order to answer objections to Spallanzanis experiment, Pasteur made a curve-necked flask that allowed the air inside the flask to mix with air outside the flask. The curve in the neck of the flask prevented solid particles from entering the body of the flask. The broth broiled inside the experimental curvenecked flasks stayed clear for a year. When Pasteur broke off the curved necks, the broth became cloudy and contaminated with microorganisms in just one day. Pasteur reasoned that the contamination was because of the microorganisms in the air.

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