AP Biology Flashcards: Origins of Life on Earth
Written by AP Content Team, Verified for 2026 AP Exams, Last updated: May 2026
Review key ideas with interactive flashcards. This set includes 10 cards to help you master important concepts.
If a scientist discovers a fossilized cell from 4 billion years ago, how does this relate to the provided geological evidence?
This discovery would be outside the plausible time frame of 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago, suggesting the established model might need revision.
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If a scientist discovers a fossilized cell from 4 billion years ago, how does this relate to the provided geological evidence?
This discovery would be outside the plausible time frame of 3.9 to 3.5 billion years ago, suggesting the established model might need revision.
What type of scientific evidence supports the model for the time frame of life's origin?
Geological evidence provides the scientific support for the plausible time frame for the origin of life on Earth.
Define 'genetic continuity' in the context of the RNA world hypothesis.
In this context, it refers to RNA's ability to ensure the transfer of genetic information through self-replication before DNA evolved.
In the RNA world hypothesis, what two key functions did RNA perform?
RNA was capable of self-replication and assuring genetic continuity, functions later taken over by DNA and proteins.
What is the approximate age of the earliest evidence for life based on the provided geological time frame?
Based on the evidence, the earliest life originated approximately 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago.
According to the RNA world hypothesis, what was the evolutionary relationship between RNA, DNA, and proteins?
The hypothesis proposes that RNA existed as the genetic material before the evolution of DNA and proteins.
What is the RNA world hypothesis?
It is the proposal that RNA was the earliest genetic material, capable of self-replication and assuring genetic continuity before the evolution of DNA and proteins.
A student argues that DNA must have been the first genetic material. Which hypothesis from the text would you use to counter this argument?
You would use the RNA world hypothesis, which proposes that RNA was the earliest genetic material, preceding DNA.
What problem regarding the origin of life does the self-replicating nature of RNA attempt to solve?
It solves the problem of how genetic material could be copied and passed on to ensure genetic continuity before the complex machinery of DNA and proteins evolved.
According to geological evidence, what is the plausible time frame for the origin of life on Earth?
Geological evidence suggests a plausible time frame for life's origin on Earth to be between approximately 3.9 and 3.5 billion years ago.