Study reveals origin of life-essential chemical elements

File: NASA/Fuse/Lynette Cook

Scientists at Rice University have uncovered fresh hints regarding the distribution of life's building elements during the solar system's early creation. The study was funded by Nasa.

In a study that was published in "Science Advances," scientists looked into iron meteorites and discovered that the phosphorus to nitrogen ratio in the ancient planetary bodies from which they originated was different from that of younger asteroids called chondrites.

In order to learn more, the scientists replicated in a lab setting how early planetary bodies, known as planetesimals, formed. They were able to determine the initial chemical makeup of these objects by heating and compressing elements similar to those found in iron meteorites.

Planetesimals in the inner solar system had lower phosphorus-to-nitrogen ratios in comparison to those in the outer solar system, according to the findings. Younger bodies that subsequently produced chondrites, on the other hand, displayed the opposite pattern, with larger ratios nearer the Sun.

Scientists think that Jupiter's expansion may be connected to the anomaly. The formation of the massive planet presumably altered the makeup of later-forming asteroids by obstructing the flow of material rich in phosphorus and nitrogen across the solar system.
Additionally, the study discovered that the inner solar system's phosphorus-to-nitrogen ratio was most similar to Earth's. This implies that rather than coming from the outer solar system later, the elements required for life may have existed close to Earth's location from the beginning.

The results, according to the researchers, shed new light on how the solar system changed over the first few million years of its existence and how Earth came to possess some of the ingredients necessary for life.