Question

Francesco Redi was a scientist that performed an experiment to determine whether maggots formed from rotting meat. Versions of his experiments are described below.

Meat was placed in two beakers. One of the beakers was left open to the air. The other beaker was covered with a fabric that only allowed air to get in. As the meat rotted, flies landed on the meat in the open beaker but were unable to get to the meat with the fabric over it. After a few days, maggots appeared on the meat in the open beaker, but not in the closed beaker.

In the next experiment, rotting meat was placed in two beakers. Dead flies were placed in one beaker, and live flies were placed in the other beaker. Both beakers were sealed, allowing no air in. Maggots appeared in the beaker with live flies, but not in the beaker with dead flies.

Explain how the surface area and volume of cells affect the rate of exchange of materials in and out of cells in multicellular organisms.

Answer 1

In order to test the spontaneous generation of maggots, an Italian scientist named Francesco Redi created an experiment in 1668 that involved putting fresh meat in two distinct jars. One jar was left open, while the other had a cloth covering it.

Redi came to the conclusion that the meat in the open jar had maggots because the flies had deposited eggs on it. No maggots were created because the flies were unable to lay their eggs on the meat in the covered container. Redi therefore shown that meat in decay does not breed maggots.

However, one of van Helmont's contemporaries, Italian physician Francesco Redi (1626-1697), conducted an experiment in 1668 that was among the first to disprove the notion that maggots (fly larvae) spontaneously develop on meat left out in the open.