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Grade Level: Elementary and Middle School

Description: A game of chance involving gathering the ingredients necessary for life and determining whether life has evolved by attempting to assemble a puzzle at the end of the game.

Objective: Students will learn about the ingredients necessary for life (as we know it) to exist, the sources of these ingredients, the role of large impact events in shaping life, and the potential difficulty of producing life even when these ingredients are present.

Materials: As many copies of the print-outs as there are players (To print images, click here); dice; scissors, a razor knife or a paper cutter; glue, paste or spray adhesive; four plastic baggies or large cups; a large flat surface; Optional: poster board or foam core for mounting gamepieces

Vocabulary: organic compounds, asteroid, comet, trilobite, extinction, evolution, biodiversity, satellite, Chicxulub crater

Life, as we know it, is known only to exist on Earth. Earth, unique among the planets in our solar system, has surface conditions that allow the presence of liquid water. Although life is very diverse, and can exist in extremely harsh environments, all life on Earth requires three basic ingredients to exist: liquid water, an energy source, and organic compounds to use as the building blocks for biological processes.

There are two other worlds in our solar system on which liquid water may exist at fairly shallow depths (<5 kilometers (<3 miles) or so) beneath their surfaces: Mars and Europa, a satellite of Jupiter. On Mars, water would exist as subsurface water, in tiny pores and cracks in rocks. On Europa, liquid water may exist beneath its icy crust. The Galileo spacecraft is taking images of Europa during its 2-year extended mission that are designed to search for clues as to whether or not liquid water is present beneath the ice.

Because of the constant tugging on Europa by Jupiter, Io and Ganymede (other moons of Jupiter), significant internal heat may be generated in Europa (an energy source!) Carbon compounds are present in meteorites, and probably in comets, which have impacted Europa and could be the original source for the organic compounds on Earth. Therefore, the three necessary ingredients for life were, and may still be, present on Europa.

If there is liquid water on Europa, does that mean that life will have evolved there? The chance of finding life in a Europan ocean is extremely difficult to estimate. But it is by no means a certainty that life will exist simply because the ingredients needed to survive are present.

One way to think of this is to compare the formation of life to the baking of a cake. You need to have flour, eggs, sugar and water (and other things like chocolate flavoring, etc.) to bake a cake. Just because you have these ingredients, however, and you combine them in a bowl and add an energy source (like an oven), doesn't mean you're going to get a cake. The ingredients have to be carefully measured, combined, and properly prepared for an edible (and hopefully quite delicious!) cake to result. So it is with the ingredients for life.

The game that follows involves collecting the three ingredients necessary for life, as well as large impact events, in abundances determined by chance (rolling of dice). A typical game will last about 10 to 20 minutes, for 6 to 8 teams, depending on the age and enthusiasm of the students. For most games, the winner will be the group that comes closest to assembling the whole puzzle. Eight or nine is often sufficient to win, with 6 or 8 teams playing. Ten out of twelve pieces right is excellent. Constructing the entire puzzle is quite rare. If precisely the right amounts of these ingredients are combined, then life may result!

The game involves rolling the die twelve or more times to obtain the ingredients necessary for life. Play can be as individuals or as teams.

Gamepieces, provided by your teacher, should be placed in four separate bins or baggies according to life ingredient type. The bins should be numbered 1-4 with a pencil or marker.

The die is cast in turn and the player/team obtains a gamepiece equivalent to the number rolled. A roll of 5 results in loss of turn and the player/team does not draw a gamepiece. A roll of 6 entitles the player/team to select a gamepiece of his/her choice, either from a bin or another player/team (unless that player has left the game with 12 pieces.) If there are no gamepieces left from the bin number that is rolled, the player/team shall re-roll until a valid number is obtained.

Once a player or team collects twelve gamepieces, they are no longer involved in play. When all players have collected twelve gamepieces, you may turn over your gamepieces and attempt to assemble the life puzzle in accordance with the key (now displayed by the instructor). Any player or team that has managed to acquire precisely one of each of the twelve gamepieces (a very difficult task, indeed) will have successfully produced life! The winning group is the one that comes closest to constructing the entire puzzle.

• Gamepieces should be kept in front of each team with the life ingredient sides up.
• You may not flip over the gamepieces to the life puzzle side during play.

Teacher notes are available here.

American Museum of Natural History - Black Smokers

Chicxulub Crater and Dinosaur Extinctions

Europa Curriculum Module

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This module was written by Brian Exton (National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson AZ).

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Galileo Solid State Imaging Team Leader: Dr. Michael J. S. Belton

The SSI Education and Public Outreach webpages were originally created and managed by Matthew Fishburn and Elizabeth Alvarez with significant assistance from Kelly Bender, Ross Beyer, Detrick Branston, Stephanie Lyons, Eileen Ryan, and Nalin Samarasinha.

Last updated: September 17, 1999, by Matthew Fishburn

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