Which one of the following experiments suggests that simplest living organisms could not have originated spontaneously from non-living matter?
- Meat was not spoiled, when heated and kept sealed in a vessel
- Larvae could appear in decaying organic matter
- Microbes appeared from unsterilized organic matter
- Microbes did not appear in stored meat
Answer
(1) Meat was not spoiled, when heated and kept sealed in a vessel
Solution
As per NCERT, Louis Pasteur showed by careful experimentation that life comes only from pre-existing life.
In pre-sterilised (heated) flasks kept sealed, life did not come from 'killed yeast', whereas in flasks open to air new living organisms arose.
Likewise, meat that is heated (microbes killed) and kept sealed (no new microbes enter) does not spoil.
∴ This experiment shows that even the simplest organisms do not arise spontaneously from non-living matter.
Answer: (1)