Every day, Earth is bombarded with extraterrestrial molecules. Some of these extraterrestrial molecules include the C3H6O3 molecule that was discovered in 2005 in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud located near the center of the Milky Way. In 2010, in Mono Lake, California, scientists discovered an extremophile in the form of a bacterium that replaces the phosphorus that all life forms on Earth have in their DNA with arsenic. Also in
2010, the Murchison meteorite that landed in Murchison, Victoria, Australia, is thought to have the largest macromolecular structure ever found with an estimated formula of C100H70O12N3S2.
The arrival of extraterrestrial material is common in the form of meteorites hitting the Earth every day and depositing new organic molecules on the
planet surface. The Murchison meteorite consisted of carbonaceous chondrite and these type of meteorites were formed in oxygen rich areas of the so lar system. Most contain water or minerals that have been altered by the presence of water and some contain large amounts of carbon or other organic compounds.
If 7,500,000 kg of meteorites land on the Earth each year and 8.2% are carbonaceous chondrites, at what rate do these meteorites deliver meteoritic organic molecules to Earth?
