The five steps are:
1. Correct environmental conditions
2. Necessity to make organic building blocks
3. Possibility of polymerizing the building blocks
4. Forming active catalysts
5. Assembling cells that can reproduce

Details for each step

1. Correct Environmental conditions a. Energy source Construction of complex matter will require an energy source that is adequate in amount but non-destructive in quality. Discuss the action of sunlight on atmospheric gases. b. Gas mixtures Just the right mixture of gases is required to supply the basic building blocks. What might these be and how do they supply elements for living molecules? c. Evidence for original gas mixtures Gaseous molecules affect liquid and solid molecules. How does the type of atmospheric composition affect mineral forms in terms of oxides or reduced crystalline complexes. 2. Making basic building blocks a. Prebiotic soup How do scientists envision that enough of the right kind of starting materials could have been formed? Discuss the unique conditions that would form and then preserve the soup. b. Nucleotide formation Living molecules are large and precise in structure. How could these be formed by chance? c. Handedness Living molecules have unique orientation in that most amino acids have to be left-handed and sugars right-handed. Has anyone offered a solution to this problem? d. Miller's experiment Describe Miller's experiment and relate it to real environments. 3. Making nucleic acids a. RNA world Why is there a need to invent an RNA world? b. Structural requirements Nucleic acids are the information molecules that need protein for their synthesis. How could their specificity be created with natural circumstances? c. Insuring stability Once formed, nucleic acids must be protected from environmental factors. How could this be accomplished naturally? 4. Making catalysts a. Making amino acids into proteins Like nucleic acids, proteins have to be assembled into specific sequence, form, and orientation. Can nature provide this specificity aside from preexisting life? b. Handedness Similar handedness is present in proteins. What would nature do with mixtures of left- and right-handed amino acids? c. Catalysis How could the configuration of an enzyme be specified to produce activity? 5. Assembling cells a. Membrane-containing compartments Functions of life such as metabolism or waste treatment require compartments and hence specialized membranes. Do cellular membranes form spontaneously? b. Second law resistance Is there a natural force to resist decay? c. Creating metabolic pathways A metabolic pathway requires interconnected substrates and catalysts. Does nature supply these? d. Creating reproductive mechanisms Living systems can only continue by the replication of various information molecules and organells such as the mitochondria. Describe how this is different from simple polymerization of basic molecules.