I don’t think abiogenesis is possible. All of existence without life had no meaning. That’s why God had to create life himself. The question is when did God do this? I googled points against abiogenesis and this popped up.
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What was critical to abiogenesis was water. Water and oil do not mix. Water and the organics of life (analogous to oil) will not fully mix, thereby allowing water to segregate and separate the organics into compartments in a repeatable way, all based on minimizing surface tension. If we shake water and oil, such as Italian Salad dressing, we can emulsify the vinegar-water and olive oil. But if allowed to sit, the water and oil will eventually separate the same way each time. Water helped to separate the organics of life, into repeatable compartments. This is not about random, but rather order, since the goal is to minimize surface tension and there are sweet spots for minimal energy.
There is a tendency to visualize the organic, all by themselves, requiring random interaction assumptions. But once you add water we get the water and oil effect and the organic have no choice, since water is the main component of life. The bi-layered lipid membrane will reform again and again. Since water will still make contact with the interior and exterior surface of the membrane, this residual surface tension adds surface energy. More change can occur.
The DNA double helix is induced by water. It is the minimal energy conformation of the DNA in water, with Beta-DNA, which is most common in life, having the most hydrated water. The sugars and bases on the DNA, are oily to the water, and these need to be buried with the double helix the minimum energy state. Water also forms a double helix within the DNA double helix; major and minor grooves. If we substituted say an alcohol for water, since alcohol is a better degreaser, the DNA would become more inside out. But water, of all the solvents, has the biggest and best water and oil repulsion effect. Water even packs protein into their bioactive state; minimizes their impact on water.
The thermodynamic equilibrium of making protein from amino acids, wants to decompose proteins back to amino acids. The reason is the polymerization reaction gives off water, and when proteins are submerged in water, the water inhibits the forward reaction and tend to reverse what already formed.
There is an applied science work around, for this bottleneck, but it involves rethinking the term fossil fuels. The Miller Experiments besides making a wide range of amino acids also generated complex resinous solids to complex to analyze in the 1950's. Based on his experiments and these resin solids, it is likely the earth was also making the precursor materials, for fossil fuels, even before there was life. There was oil before life.
If we assume, that for the sake of argument, there was oil, a polymerization of amino acids to protein within oil, solves the water problem. The water generated, will separate out of the oil, allowing the reactions to move forward. Emulsion polymerization is a common technique for some plastics. There would be an emulsion of oil and some water, animo acids, and protein.
Science assumes that the earth did not have an initial oxygen atmosphere. Oxygen appeared with the rise of plant life and photosynthesis. Abiogenesis would avoid the degrading effect of oxidation. The mostly Nitrogen atmosphere would be good gas to preserve organics during abiogenesis. Nature had it all planned out.
The current theory uses dice and cards to explain evolutionary change, whereas I prefer use the power of the 2nd law and this natural universal drift toward higher complexity. Life learned to harness the 2nd law, and thereby created a faster lane for the drift. Water plays a role in this harnessing of the 2nd law.
When water packs protein into bio-active shapes, to lower surface tension, this lowers the protein entropy; simpler state than expanded and wiggling. This sets an entropic potential for change; catalysis. If we take the sum of a full cell of protein, with water dealing with all the protein, we have a large cell zone of diminished entropy. A cell cycle is a movement to a more complex state; form two from one. That solves the entropy deficit problem. Theoretically than can occur even before we have official life.
