Spontaneous generation — Science definition
The discredited belief that living things could arise directly from non-living matter, overturned by evidence that cells only come from cells.
Where it is taught
- Cell Theory & the Discovery of Cells — Cells, Membranes & Exchange, Life Science: Biology, Grade 10
In use
For centuries people accepted spontaneous generation — the notion that life could bubble up straight from non-living matter, as when maggots seemed to 'appear' in spoiled meat.
Cell Theory & the Discovery of Cells
Questions using spontaneous generation
Problem 1
Explain why disproving spontaneous generation was essential to completing cell theory.
Answer and explanation
Cell theory's third tenet says cells only come from pre-existing cells. If life could arise spontaneously from non-living matter, that tenet would be false. Pasteur's swan-neck experiment showed sterile broth stayed lifeless until microbes reached it, confirming that cells come only from other cells.