Surely you have ever wondered how the Earth was created. If you are Catholic, you will have been told that God created the Earth and all the living beings that inhabit it. Science, on the other hand, has investigated for many years the possible origin of the Earth and how it has been evolving all these millions of years. In this case, geological time must be taken into account, since the scale of evolution of the Earth is beyond the human scale.
In this article we are going to explain in depth how the Earth was created and how it has evolved until today.
Formation of the earth
The origin of our planet comes from a protosolar-type nebula. It originated 4.6 billion years ago. At that time of creation, all planets were in a state of low-density dust. That is, they were barely formed and did not have an atmosphere or life (in the case of Earth). The only thing that has made possible the creation of life on Earth is the perfect distance from the Sun.
From the existence of a gas cloud that caused the collision with the dust particles that were then wandering around the solar system, a great explosion was generated. These particles were condensing in what we know today as a region of the Milky Way called the Eagle Nebula or the pillars of creation. Those three clouds of dust and gas are what help generate new stars when they collapse by gravity.
The mass of the dust particles condensed and the Sun was created. At the same time that the rest of the planets that make up the solar system were formed, so did our beloved planet.
This is how the Earth is created
A gigantic volume of gas such as the planets Jupiter and Saturn were us at the beginning. As time passed, it became a solid state by cooling the crust. This creation of the earth’s crust was causing the different internal layers of the Earth, since the core is not solid. The rest of the crust was taking the current dynamics that we know as plate tectonics.
The core of the Earth is liquid composed of iron and nickel minerals melted together with magma. The volcanoes that formed at that time were active and they were emitting lava along with a large amount of gases and formed the atmosphere. Its composition has been modified over the years until its current composition. Volcanoes have been key elements in the formation of the Earth and its crust.
Formation of the earth’s atmosphere
The atmosphere is not something that has been formed suddenly or from one day to the next. There are many emissions from volcanoes that have been emitted over thousands of years in order to form the composition that we have today and for which, thanks to it, we can live.
The basis of the early atmosphere was composed of hydrogen and helium (the two most abundant gases in outer space). In the second phase of its development, when a large number of meteorites hit the Earth, the volcanic activity was further accentuated.
The gases resulting from these eruptions are known as the secondary atmosphere. These gases were mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide. The volcanoes emitted large amounts of sulfurous gases, so the atmosphere was toxic and no one could have survived it. When all these gases in the atmosphere condensed, rain occurred for the first time. That is when, from the water, the first photosynthetic bacteria began to emerge. The bacteria that carry out photosynthesis were able to add oxygen to the highly toxic atmosphere.
Thanks to the dissolved oxygen in the seas and oceans, marine life could be generated. After years of evolution and genetic crossings, marine life developed so much that it went abroad to give rise to terrestrial life. In the last stage of formation of the atmosphere, its composition is already 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, as it is today.
Meteor shower
The Earth at that time was bombarded by numerous meteorites that caused the formation of liquid water and the atmosphere. From here also originated the theory that scientists call the Chaos Theory . And it is that from destruction, a system with high entropy can generate life and move to the point of equilibrium that we currently have.
In the first rains that occurred, the deepest parts of the crust were formed as a result of the fragility that it had at that time due to the weight of the water. This is how the hydrosphere was created.
The combination of all the forming factors of the Earth made it possible for life to develop as we know it. Much of our development we owe to the atmosphere. It is she who protects us from harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun, falling meteorites and solar storms that would destroy all signals and communication systems in the world.
The planets that surround the stars and their formation continue to be discussed around the world. However, the process involved in building a planet is still not entirely clear. The problem is that, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, geological time predominates here and not the human scale. Therefore, the formation of a planet is not something that we can study or observe its process. We have to base ourselves on scientific evidence and theories.
I hope that with this information you can better understand how the Earth was created. The belief of each one regarding their training is free, here we simply give the scientific version since it is a science blog.
