Since time immemorial, on the dark nights where science mixes with superstition, small have been divided flames that float on mullies and cemeteries. Some claimed that they were dancers, others, the wandering souls of lost children.
These erratic and spectral lights are known as fatuous fires, and although science has tried to explain its origin, the mystery has persisted … until now. A new new research points to an unsuspected mechanism: DIminutes electrical explosionsgenerated by microscopic bubbles, could be responsible for lighting these ephemeral glows.
For years, the most accepted hypothesis claimed that methane, released by the decomposition of organic matter in swamps, was the fuel of these fires. However, something was missing in that equation: How was this gas lit without an obvious source of ignition?
Richard zeroChemist from Stanford University, and their team believe they have found the answer in a phenomenon that reminds of miniature electric storm.
The experiment
In his laboratory, Zare designed a singular experiment: a submerged nozzle that released air and methane microbujas in the water. With the help of high -speed cameras, the researchers observed tiny flashes of light that occurred when bubbles collided. The crucial finding was that even without methane, the discharges appeared, which suggests that these are not due to spontaneous combustion, but to a separation of electric charges on the surfaces of the bubbles.
This mechanism, which generates intense electrical fields in tiny distances, can cause “micro -refogue”, capable of triggering chemical reactions. When methane was added to the mixture, the intensity of the light increased and ultraviolet light associated with the formaldehyde formation, u was detectedn Classic Methane combustion by -product.
For some scientists, such as James Andersonchemist from Harvard University, the discovery marks “a fascinating step” towards understanding how chemical reactions can begin in unsuspected environments. And not only that: these bubble -induced reactions could have been fundamental for the first steps of life on Earth.
In an experimental installation, the high -speed cameras captured micro -flashes (in the lower center) that occurred between microscopic air and methane bubbles in the water.
The first breath of life?
For example, this technique is already being used to carry out thousands of simultaneous chemical reactions, in search of new synthesis routes for complex compounds. In addition, Ze have shown that these microburbujas can unite amino acids to form peptides and combine nucleic acids to form polynucleotides, that is, the fundamental blocks of life.
Zare raises an even more bold hypothesis: that these bubbling micro-lights could have replaced the need for large atmospheric rays, such as those invoked in the famous Miller-Urey experiment. Since the bubbles were everywhere in the primitive earth, They could have been the silent catalyst for prebiotic chemistry.
However, as the titling flames themselves who inspired these investigations, the idea still remains floating between science and the possibility. Fatuos fires, those bright ghosts of folklore, may not be manifestations of the beyond, but witnesses of tiny electrical processes that still cost us to see … But that could have been the first breath of life.
