Truth Like a Lightning Bolt

 

Who would have thought that the secret to life on earth would manifest itself with the proverbial bolt of lightning?  Well, God moves in mysterious ways.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

 Phosphorus is abundant in the lithosphere.  Thank goodness.  It is useful for any number of things from fertilizer to fireworks, and it is necessary for ALL forms of life on this planet.  Phosphorus (in the form of phosphate, which means it is combined with oxygen) is an essential part of both RNA and DNA.  No phosphate; no life, period. 

That means that phosphates are older than the life on this planet.  If you are thinking “dinosaurs” think back farther.  If you are thinking “fish” keep going.  The oldest fossil evidence of any lifeform on earth is around 3.5 billion years old and is microbial.  Bacteria.  This first ever life appeared rather soon (in geological terms, of course) after the formation of the earth, which is at least 4.5 billion years old.  Since phosphate is a combination of both phosphorus and oxygen, we also know that both were present, evidently in abundance, in primal earth.  Both are also reactive, meaning they like combining with other elements.  Blame that on a few outlying electrons, zooming around the nucleus of each element, which are more than happy to join with other electrons in a bond.  Some dancers twirl alone, others want partners.

And that then brings us to our bolt of lightning.

Glen Ellyn, Illinois calls itself a village, but it is a norther suburb of Chicago.  In 2016 a family called the geological department at Wheaton College to say that a meteor had struck in their backyard. The interspace visitor had started a small fire and left a mysterious rock in their backyard.  While the victims of nature’s vandalism were wrong on many counts, their prescient call to scientific investigators has been a boon to scientists everywhere. 

It was not a meteorite.  Contrary to common thought, meteorites are cold when they hit the earth.  Lightning is the same temperature as the surface of the sun.  The lightning strike, hitting mineral rich clay, melted the minerals into glass.  Such activity forms a solid column which follows the path of the lightning into the earth.  The rock formed is called fulgurite.

The Glen Ellyn fulgurite was donated to the college and its interior began revealing tantalizing secrets.  Chief among them was the mineral schreibersite.  This mineral is phosphide containing phosphorus and a metal (iron-nickel in the Illinois case).  It is the same material found in meteorites, which are frequently credited with bringing the necessary phosphorus to a nascent earth.  What is more, these phosphides, whether from lightning or meteorites are soluble and therefore available for the biochemistry needed for life. 

Studying the schreibersite in the Illinois rock, scientists in Leeds, England found that lightning would have been a more reliable source of phosphorus than meteors.  But could we get enough lightning in one place at one time?  It turns out, yes.

During the Archean eon (some 4 billion years ago) the earth was forming itself as a stable, rotating, sphere, capable of gravitationally holding an atmosphere.  At this time that atmosphere would not have been the breathable nitrogen/oxygen rich air we know now.  It would be saturated with methane and ammonia.  It would also be punctuated with near constant lightning.  It is estimated at 1-5 billion flashes per year, compared with 560 million per year today. 

This doesn’t rule out meteorites, nor does it prove the case for phosphates via lightning strikes as the bringer of life to this planet.  Neither does the answer have to be “either/or.” It can be both.  Life, truth and sensibility frequently lie in the shared gray areas.  But it presents the kind of intellectual discourse that marks reasonable people.  Science is a self-correcting process and allows us to make course corrections as new data emerges.  Facts are always facts, but their use and applicability may change, as does their relevance.  Yes, there is a message here.

Being continually educated helps me keep the faith.