Before the discovery of cells, people believed in the theory of spontaneous generation. According to this theory, living things can come from nonliving things. On the basis of this theory, people believed that maggots that formed on cheese spontaneously arose from the cheese. Which two statements disprove this theory of spontaneous generation? All matter is made of cells. All living things are made of cells. Cells are generally microscopic and impossible to detect with the naked eye. Living cells can only come from previously existing matter. Cells form from previously existing cells.

Question

Karla Armstrong

Biology

23 May, 02:36

Before the discovery of cells, people believed in the theory of spontaneous generation. According to this theory, living things can come from nonliving things. On the basis of this theory, people believed that maggots that formed on cheese spontaneously arose from the cheese. Which two statements disprove this theory of spontaneous generation? All matter is made of cells. All living things are made of cells. Cells are generally microscopic and impossible to detect with the naked eye. Living cells can only come from previously existing matter. Cells form from previously existing cells.

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Ronnie Haas · Answer 1

The answers are;

Cells form from previously existing cells.

Cells are generally microscopic and impossible to detect with the naked eye

Louis Pasteur disproved the theory of spontaneous generation using an experiment with two treatments. One of decaying meat left in the open and the other of decaying meat in a closed flask. He demonstrated that maggots only appeared in the open experiment because flies lay their eggs which developed to maggots. The closed experiment had no maggots. This showed that life can only be formed from life. Cells could only be viewed by a microscope for them to observe their activities.