History of the Earth || Scientific FS
History of the Earth
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| fig. Earth |
How old is our earth?
Scientists believe that our Earth was formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago. About 14 billion years ago, there was a massive explosion, which the scientists later named "The Big Bang". It released radiation, particles, and huge clouds of atoms, dust, and gas. Our earth is believed to have been born as a result of this Big Bang.
Where in Space is our Earth located?
Our Earth is located in a spiral galaxy named the "Milky Way" which is part of the solar system. The Solar System also consists of the Sun, the Moon, the other seven planets and their moons, numerous comets, asteroids, and minor planets. The Solar System was formed from a large, rotating cloud of interstellar dust and gas called the "Solar nebula", orbiting the Milky way's galactic center. The Solar nebula was composed of Hydrogen and helium, created shortly after the Big Bang.
How did the Earth form?
After the big bang, particles were floating around in space. The force of gravity pulled the particles together and they began to spin around a center. Some of the matter squeezed into a tiny fireball, which grew bigger and bigger until it gave birth to the Sun. The rest of the molecules kept spinning in a cloud of dust that was leftover from the formation of the Sun. In time, a few molecules clumped together. Then, the clumps began to crash into each other and stick together to make bigger clumps. Finally, there were huge clusters of metal and rock, hundreds of miles across, good enough to be called planets. one such cluster is our planet Earth. Its formation was largely completed over 10-20 million years.
What did the just born Earth look like?
The just-born earth was like a blurred patch of blistering rock and choking fumes. however, space was cold, so the Earth also began to cool down. Approximately, 3000 million years ago, the planet was cool enough for landmasses to form. The center of the planet was mainly melted iron. As time passed, the surface cooled to form the crust, which was mainly silica, and the steam condensed into water.
How did the Earth start orbiting the Sun?
The Sun's gravity caught the Earth, as well as the other planets, and pulled them into an orbit around the Sun. On one hand, the Earth's momentum was always trying to carry it away from the Sun in a straight line. On the other hand, the Sun's gravity kept pulling the Earth toward the Sun. As a result, because of the centrifugal force, the Earth ended up orbiting the Sun in an elliptical path.
How far is the Earth from the Sun?
The Earth is the third planet from the Sun. it is situated at an average distance (the mean distance) of above 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) from the Sun. However, the exact distance between Earth and the Sun varies with its position in its elliptical orbit.
When is the Earth the farthest from the Sun?
The Earth is the farthest from the Sun around the first week of July, every year. The event is called Aphelion, and at this point, the distance between the earth and the Sun is about 152 million km (94.4 million miles).
When is the Earth closest to the Sun?
The Earth is closest to the Sun around the first week of January, every year. The event is called Perihelion, and at this point, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 147 million km (91.3 million miles).
Why is the Earth still spinning?
All the planets in the Solar System were formed from the huge cloud of gas and dust released from the Big bang. As the cloud collapsed under its own gravity, it started to spin. As the planets formed, they continued this spinning motion. As the materials of the Earth gathered in more closely, the planet spun faster. The Earth is still spinning because there are no forces in the vacuum of space to stop it.
In which direction does the Earth rotate?
The Earth rotates towards the East, on its axis. As viewed from the North Star Polaris, the Earth turns counterclockwise. Due to this rotation, we see the Sunrise in the East and set in the West.
What is the Earth's axis?
The Earth's axis is an imaginary line that runs through its center, from the North Pole to the South Pole. it is tilted about 23.5 degrees from perpendicular. the Earth takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to complete one rotation. This period is called "one solar day" on Earth.
How fast does the Earth orbit around the Sun?
The Earth orbits the Sun at an average speed of 67000 miles/hour and takes 365.26 solar days to complete one revolution. Hence, we calculate a year on Earth as 365 days, and the .26 days add up to an extra day, every four years, called a leap year.
Has the Earth slowed down over the ages?
Over millions of years, Earth's rotation on its axis has significantly slowed down by gravitational interactions with the Moon. However, some large-scale events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (tsunami), have caused the rotation to speed up by around 3 microseconds.
How big is our Earth?
Earth is the largest of the inner planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass, and density.
- Circumference at the equator: 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 km)
- Circumference between the north and south poles: 24,859.82 miles (40,008 km)
- Diameter at the Equator: 7,926.28 miles (12,756 km)
- Diameter at the Poles: 7,899.80 miles (12,713.49 km)
- Mean Density: 5515 km/m^3
- Mass (10^24 kg): 5.9736
When did life begin on Earth?
The history of earth's evolution has been divided into Eons and eras, further break up into periods and Epochs. The first Eom is called the Hadean, during which the Earth's surface was under severe volcanism, due to the large heat flow and geothermal gradient. by the beginning of the next Eon, Archaean, the Earth had cooled significantly and primordial life began to evolve. Single-celled, blue-green cyanobacteria flourished in the sunlight parts of the oceans 3.5 billion years ago. Long strings of amino acids began cooperating to make the earliest living cells.
How did the atmosphere, water, and oxygen come to be?
When Earth was in its formation stage, the gases-carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water vapor, and others - rose from the cooling rose and enveloped the planet in a blistering atmosphere, devoid of oxygen. As the Earth cooled, the steam began to condense into water. Space rubble left over from the birth of the planets bombarded Earth continuously and the impacts might have boiled the water away. Apart from this, the young planet was periodically bombarded by comets and asteroids, depositing large amounts of frozen ice which was released as water on impact. This enforced the process of cooling and condensation, which in turn gave rise to weather conditions - cloud, thunderstorm, and rain eventually forming the oceans. When the earliest living cells began to use photosynthesis to make energy out of sunlight and carbon dioxide, the process released oxygen.
Our home galaxy - the Milky Way - contains about 200 billion stars. The Solar System is located within one of the outer arms of the Milky Way.
The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is also called one astronomical unit (or AU). This is established as 149597870.7 kilometers.
The Earth's equator is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the north pole and the South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere.
Archaean stromatolites are the first direct fossil traces of life on Earth. Stromatolites are colonies of single-celled organisms like cyanobacteria or Chlorophyta.
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