Spontaneous generation?

Question

Which of the following statements is probably true about the experiments that supposedly proved that spontaneous generation occurs?

A. Air was lacking.

B. Microorganisms were already present when the flask was sealed.

C. All of the above

D. Too much heat was applied.

E. The food source could not support life.

Answer 1

OK, put on your logic cap.

If air was lacking, in most cases, that wouldn't support life (it'll support, say, botulinum bacteria, but not most oxygen-dependent life forms.)

So, all of the above is probably not the right answer.

Too much heat was applied--if there's too much heat, it'll kill off pretty much any organism (except those thingies at the bottom of the ocean that live in those black smoker vent things--they like heat.  Everything else doesn't usually thrive on it.)

The food source could not support life--if there wasn't any food, it wouldn't support any kind of generation, spontaneous or otherwise.

Soooo...what does that leave you?

You have to think about what each of these things would do in the course of an experiment.

Answer 2

baby boomers

Answer 3

B. There were bacteria or spores in there to begin with.