Miller–Urey Revisited: When Lightning Strikes the Earth

A discharge is arced to different solutions containing the simple molecular species water, methanol, and ammonia. We show that the impact of the discharge at the discharge-solution interface produces a range of organic molecules, including amino acids and polymers containing carboxylate, amine, imine, and cyano groups. The classic Miller-Urey experiment, of which there are hundreds of variations, changing parameters such as gas composition, pressures, and voltage have been tested, involves the production of simple amino acids and other species in the gas phase in an arc discharge. This work’s emphasis is the production of various chemical species at a discharge-liquid interface. The analysis of the product is conducted by IR, UV–VIS, LC–MS and MALDI–MS. As a laboratory exercise or a demonstration, this simple derivation of the Miller-Urey experiment can be used in a variety of teaching settings, from high school through advanced undergraduate research classes to demonstrate the basic hypothesis of how life on Earth may have started.