In Miller's experiment, what was produced after simulating conditions of early Earth?

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Miller's experiment, conducted in the 1950s, aimed to replicate the conditions of early Earth in order to explore the origins of life. The experiment involved creating an apparatus that simulated Earth's primordial atmosphere, which consisted of methane, ammonia, hydrogen, and water vapor, and then applying electrical sparks to mimic lightning, a common source of energy at the time.

After running the experiment for a week, Miller analyzed the resultant mixture and discovered the presence of several organic compounds, with amino acids being the most notable find. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are essential components for life, making their presence significant in understanding prebiotic chemistry. This discovery supported the hypothesis that complex organic molecules necessary for life could be formed from simpler inorganic compounds under the right conditions.

The other choices, while related to biological processes, were not produced directly in Miller's experiment. Proteins are formed from amino acids through processes that involve ribonucleic acids (RNA) and ribosomes, neither of which were part of this experiment. DNA strands require a specific set of conditions and nucleotides that were not produced directly in this setup. Similarly, complex carbohydrates are polysaccharides formed from sugar units, which were also not a direct outcome in this context.

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