Meteorites May Have Delivered First Ammonia for Life on Earth

[Fraser]

Researchers have teased ammonia of a carbon-containing meteorite from Antarctica, and propose that meteorites may have delivered that essential ingredient for life to an early Earth. The results appear today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and add to a growing body of evidence that meteorites may have played a key role [...]

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[forrest noble]

It would seem that comets could carry a lot more hydrocarbon material and theoretically they could have even carried life itself from another location. Solid material such as meteorites couldn't carry very much ammonia or such hydrocarbon non-solids, could they? My bet is that such material rained down on the cooling Earth originating from the solar disk of materials that created the planets, maybe even in the form of widely dispersed gases.

[Cobra1597]

It would seem that comets could carry a lot more hydrocarbon material and theoretically they could have even carried life itself from another location. Solid material such as meteorites couldn't carry very much ammonia or such hydrocarbon non-solids, could they? My bet is that such material rained down on the cooling Earth originating from the solar disk of materials that created the planets, maybe even in the form of widely dispersed gases.

Well, a few things to keep in mind. First, ammonia isn't a hydrocarbon. Second, the melting (and therefore freezing) point of ammonia is high enough that I'd guess it could exist in space in a solid form, especially if it is contained within something and not directly exposed to sunlight.