The Earth, it seems is in fact 5.6 billion
years old. There is solid proof in what’s called radio metric dating.
Wow, that’s old, considering the average
man or woman will only live for about 90 years if their lucky. If you stacked sheets
of A4 paper on top of each other for every year of the earth’s age, the stack
would reach 450 km into the air. For the life of a man, the stack would only
reach about 1cm high.
We and every other thing in the universe are
made up of atoms. There are 92 naturally occurring elements in the periodic
table. You can’t actually see an individual atom as they are too small, but if
you looked through an electron microscope, you could see them no problem.
Turns out atoms are just empty spaces with a tiny weenie nucleus in the middle with electrons buzzing around the outside. The analogy I’ve often heard is if the atom was a football stadium, the nucleus would be a fly in the middle and the electrons would be mosquitoes flying around it. The rest is just empty space.
So if you were to compress all the atoms from every human being on earth into a solid mass, we would all compress down to the size of 1 sugar cube.
Turns out atoms are just empty spaces with a tiny weenie nucleus in the middle with electrons buzzing around the outside. The analogy I’ve often heard is if the atom was a football stadium, the nucleus would be a fly in the middle and the electrons would be mosquitoes flying around it. The rest is just empty space.
So if you were to compress all the atoms from every human being on earth into a solid mass, we would all compress down to the size of 1 sugar cube.
Now, the Universe is estimated to have begun
13 billion years ago from a single bang called the big one! Or the big bounce, And
it’s still expanding from that. There is also solid proof for this, by what’s
known as red shift. The red spectrum of light waves get longer as they move
away from us. So the Earth is made up of all the dust floating around after
stars have exploded, gradually getting bigger and bigger through the force of
gravity.
Stars, are massive balls of hydrogen squeezed together under such force, that their nucleus’s fuse together, making helium and releasing lots and lots of energy in the process.
Yes energy equals mass and mass equal’s energy. Throw in the speed of light squared and you have that famous equation:
e=mc squared.
If you hurtle a ball of mass at the speed of light squared, it turns into energy.
Stars, are massive balls of hydrogen squeezed together under such force, that their nucleus’s fuse together, making helium and releasing lots and lots of energy in the process.
Yes energy equals mass and mass equal’s energy. Throw in the speed of light squared and you have that famous equation:
e=mc squared.
If you hurtle a ball of mass at the speed of light squared, it turns into energy.
Other larger elements like iron and uranium
need more force to fuse together, and this force is provided when a star
explodes. This is known as a super nova.
So everything boils down to atoms.
Or does it?
“Atomos”, means indivisible or can’t cut further. Now you’ve got to hand it to those Greeks, who a very long time ago, with no instruments to aid them, figured out things were made of atoms. Turns out things can be broken down further into what’s known as strings, or waves of energy.
So everything boils down to atoms.
Or does it?
“Atomos”, means indivisible or can’t cut further. Now you’ve got to hand it to those Greeks, who a very long time ago, with no instruments to aid them, figured out things were made of atoms. Turns out things can be broken down further into what’s known as strings, or waves of energy.
So the earth and the other planets are a
gathering of dust. All the heavy stuff like iron gravitated to the middle
giving Earth a heavy iron core, and also enveloping the earth in a magnetic
field that helps life a lot by limiting solar radiation and preventing it from
killing us. It also makes your little compass needle line up North to South.
All the light stuff like silicon and aluminium then floated to the top, forming
the crust.
The crust is about as thin as an apple’s skin is to an apple. The heat radiating from the core contributes gases to our atmosphere like CO2, carbon dioxide.
This is an important gas, as it allows short wave incoming solar radiation in, but does not allow the longer waves out once they bounce off the earth, thus warming it.
If it weren’t for this, the Earth’s temperature would be -15 degrees Celsius.
Not pleasant for large mammals like us.
Getting back to the crust, the solid crust is floating on top of a thick liquid mantel. The crust is broken up into huge pieces called plates, and they are constantly moving at about the same rate your finger nails grow. Pretty interesting huh? At one stage, 225 million years ago, all the continents were together, and known as Pangaea.This movement and the gaps left between continents has a big impact on climate in countries as it effects the currents that move water around the globe.
5 million years later, it split in two; Gondwanaland and Laurasia.
And guess what?
One day it will be all back together again just like a puzzle!
So the earth is located 8 light minutes from the sun, which means, if you were driving are car flat out at 100km/h, it would take you 170 years to reach.
The Earth is not perfectly straight up and down from pole to pole, no no, it’s on an angle of 23.5 degrees, which is why we have hot and cold seasons and maybe even large life forms like us.
Many billions of years ago, when the Earth was a huge molten rock, a huge rock smashed into it and smashed a piece off.
That piece is now the moon.
The moon is held in place by the earth’s gravity and actually stops the Earth wobbling from side to side, which is also very important to life here.
Although asteroids still hit Earth from time to time, generally asteroids that come into Earth’s vicinity are drawn in by Jupiter’s gravitational pull, as Jupiter is like a basket ball and Earth is a marble in size comparison.
The Earth has an atmosphere held close to the surface by gravity.
The atmosphere is a changing thing, and this really brings us close to the subject of life on Earth as the atmosphere is a crucial part of life.
Life started on this planet as a single cell around 3.5 billion years ago.
It had plenty of time to get used to the place and figure out how to go about change.
Life on dry land only came about 500 million years ago, and yes from the sea originally.
First plants, then animals.
Before that earth was just a ball of hard rock. Life interacting with the elements has brought about the changes we see.
Life in the sea started out as methogens which are primitive bacteria from the archaea family that produce methane as a by-product of their metabolism. They began life feeding off chemical energy provided to them by the thermal vents in the ocean. To them oxygen is poisonous. These same bacteria also live within you, helping to digest your food. Lots of them live in cows, helping to digest all that grass and producing lots of methane.
Ok so on land, plants and fungi formed a relationship to be able to live together and extract nutrients from the hard rock that was Earth, gradually turning rock into soil with some help from the rain and sun. Yes soil is just rock dust mixed with dead and decaying plant and animal matter known as organic matter. As more and more soil accumulated it supported more and more life.
Life also comes and goes on Earth.
There have been many mass extinctions of life on Earth of varying degrees. The biggest was 251 million years ago, where 96% of sea life and 70% of land species died rather suddenly.
Just remember that most life on Earth is microbial and hard to measure when it comes to extinctions, but I’d say it pays to be small when these extinctions are happening.
Now, I don’t want to be a doomsdayer like so many we hear, but it will happen again. Some say it’s happening now. That’s great isn’t it.
So life has been on Earth for 600 million years changing, rearranging, trying to survive and reproduce. It’s just what it does! If it didn’t do that, it wouldn’t be around for long.
The crust is about as thin as an apple’s skin is to an apple. The heat radiating from the core contributes gases to our atmosphere like CO2, carbon dioxide.
This is an important gas, as it allows short wave incoming solar radiation in, but does not allow the longer waves out once they bounce off the earth, thus warming it.
If it weren’t for this, the Earth’s temperature would be -15 degrees Celsius.
Not pleasant for large mammals like us.
Getting back to the crust, the solid crust is floating on top of a thick liquid mantel. The crust is broken up into huge pieces called plates, and they are constantly moving at about the same rate your finger nails grow. Pretty interesting huh? At one stage, 225 million years ago, all the continents were together, and known as Pangaea.This movement and the gaps left between continents has a big impact on climate in countries as it effects the currents that move water around the globe.
5 million years later, it split in two; Gondwanaland and Laurasia.
And guess what?
One day it will be all back together again just like a puzzle!
So the earth is located 8 light minutes from the sun, which means, if you were driving are car flat out at 100km/h, it would take you 170 years to reach.
The Earth is not perfectly straight up and down from pole to pole, no no, it’s on an angle of 23.5 degrees, which is why we have hot and cold seasons and maybe even large life forms like us.
Many billions of years ago, when the Earth was a huge molten rock, a huge rock smashed into it and smashed a piece off.
That piece is now the moon.
The moon is held in place by the earth’s gravity and actually stops the Earth wobbling from side to side, which is also very important to life here.
Although asteroids still hit Earth from time to time, generally asteroids that come into Earth’s vicinity are drawn in by Jupiter’s gravitational pull, as Jupiter is like a basket ball and Earth is a marble in size comparison.
The Earth has an atmosphere held close to the surface by gravity.
The atmosphere is a changing thing, and this really brings us close to the subject of life on Earth as the atmosphere is a crucial part of life.
Life started on this planet as a single cell around 3.5 billion years ago.
It had plenty of time to get used to the place and figure out how to go about change.
Life on dry land only came about 500 million years ago, and yes from the sea originally.
First plants, then animals.
Before that earth was just a ball of hard rock. Life interacting with the elements has brought about the changes we see.
Life in the sea started out as methogens which are primitive bacteria from the archaea family that produce methane as a by-product of their metabolism. They began life feeding off chemical energy provided to them by the thermal vents in the ocean. To them oxygen is poisonous. These same bacteria also live within you, helping to digest your food. Lots of them live in cows, helping to digest all that grass and producing lots of methane.
Ok so on land, plants and fungi formed a relationship to be able to live together and extract nutrients from the hard rock that was Earth, gradually turning rock into soil with some help from the rain and sun. Yes soil is just rock dust mixed with dead and decaying plant and animal matter known as organic matter. As more and more soil accumulated it supported more and more life.
Life also comes and goes on Earth.
There have been many mass extinctions of life on Earth of varying degrees. The biggest was 251 million years ago, where 96% of sea life and 70% of land species died rather suddenly.
Just remember that most life on Earth is microbial and hard to measure when it comes to extinctions, but I’d say it pays to be small when these extinctions are happening.
Now, I don’t want to be a doomsdayer like so many we hear, but it will happen again. Some say it’s happening now. That’s great isn’t it.
So life has been on Earth for 600 million years changing, rearranging, trying to survive and reproduce. It’s just what it does! If it didn’t do that, it wouldn’t be around for long.
The fact is life came from the sea to land.
Fish ancestors? Yes it’s all in the DNA. In fact, we have been described as
walking sea monsters having originated in the sea, our blood salinity is the
same as sea water packaged in skin to avoid drying out.
OK so things are speeding along now, I’m
trying to get to us.
So after the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million
years ago, it was time for mammals, which slowly but surely gained a foothold
on Earth.
When single celled organisms learned to utilize the energy from the sun to produce their energy, the playing field started to turn.
This single cell organism known as cyanobacteria produces energy for themselves by utilizing the sun’s energy, the waste product is highly reactive and toxic to life: Oxygen.
When single celled organisms learned to utilize the energy from the sun to produce their energy, the playing field started to turn.
This single cell organism known as cyanobacteria produces energy for themselves by utilizing the sun’s energy, the waste product is highly reactive and toxic to life: Oxygen.
Slowly, their numbers began to increase,
producing more and more oxygen.
At first the oxygen reacted with iron in the presence of water producing iron oxides or rust. This kept the level of oxygen in the atmosphere down to zero for a long time but once all the iron had been reacted and the oxygen was still being produced it began to accumulate in the atmosphere.
The oxygen molecules then began reacting with photons in the upper atmosphere creating the 03 molecule or ozone also very important to life here on earth.
Before the current balance of 21% was reached, it went as high as 30%. That’s when we had those huge insects on Earth supported by an atmosphere rich in oxygen.
At first the oxygen reacted with iron in the presence of water producing iron oxides or rust. This kept the level of oxygen in the atmosphere down to zero for a long time but once all the iron had been reacted and the oxygen was still being produced it began to accumulate in the atmosphere.
The oxygen molecules then began reacting with photons in the upper atmosphere creating the 03 molecule or ozone also very important to life here on earth.
Before the current balance of 21% was reached, it went as high as 30%. That’s when we had those huge insects on Earth supported by an atmosphere rich in oxygen.
Life on Earth is a composite or
amalgamation of originally different life forms, coming together for the
benefit of each other, known as symbiosis, then combining to form one.
We have a number of symbyants living with us such as mitochondria, that live in every one of our cells and provide the ATP energy needed for life. Others include the bacteria in our gut that help break down our food. In fact the bacteria we live with outnumber our body cells 10 to 1.
Your insides are similar conditions to the tropical shorelines of Archean earth 3 billion years ago Conveniently package inside you snug and warm are all the microbes from Archean times.
We have also taken the weather of warm Africa where we first evolved to every corner of the earth. Using heaters shelters and clothing we've replicated this African climate from Antarctica to the North pole and all places in between.
We have a number of symbyants living with us such as mitochondria, that live in every one of our cells and provide the ATP energy needed for life. Others include the bacteria in our gut that help break down our food. In fact the bacteria we live with outnumber our body cells 10 to 1.
Your insides are similar conditions to the tropical shorelines of Archean earth 3 billion years ago Conveniently package inside you snug and warm are all the microbes from Archean times.
We have also taken the weather of warm Africa where we first evolved to every corner of the earth. Using heaters shelters and clothing we've replicated this African climate from Antarctica to the North pole and all places in between.
All the nutrients on Earth are cycled and
recycled through both the living organisms and the
non-living, like rocks and gases.
Rocks look very permanent to us, but they are in a constant process of being recycled and eroded.
It just happens on time scales that happen in our life time, multiplied by thousands and millions of times.
This is known as geologic time.
Lets take sand for example, as it’s everywhere and is not really given much thought.
What is sand?
Well it’s just one stage of rock being recycled.
I’ll start with a mountain that has been driven high into the air by two plates joining together and pushing the rock in the middle, which has nowhere to go but up.
It doesn’t stay up forever through. The action of wind, rain and sun causes little bits to be broken off and then washed down stream.
Small pieces are left up stream and become in time, rock layers.
Sand is a very hard and resilient combination of silicon and oxygen that makes it’s way to the sea and builds up and is pushed to the sides by water, accumulating as beaches.
Eventually, so much builds up that it is weighed down further into the Earth, is melted, and becomes part of the next mountain.
And so the cycle continues.
Humans diverged from a line of apes about 1 million years ago.
Let’s remember now, that’s not very long ago compared to how old the Earth is.
The species we belong to; Homo sapiens, diverged about 200 thousand years ago.
It’s only in the last 6000 years, that humans have congregated into larger and larger groups and civilizations.
Civilizations have grown and died out many times in history. From Mesopotamia to Iraq, Rome and the Myan Indians.
Civilizations generally outgrow the lands surrounding which is not able to support more and more people with food. When food is short, all forms of political and social structure start to fray.
Generally, civilizations advance on the back of scientific and technical innovation.
The four forces of nature being discovered by European countries, went a long way to helping them advance ahead of the rest.
All human beings no matter what race or colour are exactly! the same there ain't but minuscule difference in DNA so little it does not count. What really counts is where they are born.So why did some races advance and dominate others, pure luck!
Europe just happened to have the right climate to grow grasses like wheat and barley that enable people to grow more food than they need for themselves. These grasses just so happen to contain all the amino acids for human nutrition. So some could grow food and others in the same group could work on other things like making tools and solving problems. Society began to advance. Europeans also got lucky in having hoofed animal species they could domesticate and use for food.
Newton discovered the force of gravity, which was a great leap forward, in that the force that holds the solar system together could now be accounted for and calculated. If that was so, then so might other things.
That then lead to many inventions and on to the industrial revolution.
Maxwell / Faraday discovered the electromagnetic force which led to a whole array of technological innovation, too many to mention. And now, I’m using it to write this.
Einstein discovered the strong force which holds the atom’s nucleus together.
Releasing this force, releases 2000 times the amount of energy for the same weight as fossil fuel.
We then also have the weak force, which is responsible for radioactive decay.
non-living, like rocks and gases.
Rocks look very permanent to us, but they are in a constant process of being recycled and eroded.
It just happens on time scales that happen in our life time, multiplied by thousands and millions of times.
This is known as geologic time.
Lets take sand for example, as it’s everywhere and is not really given much thought.
What is sand?
Well it’s just one stage of rock being recycled.
I’ll start with a mountain that has been driven high into the air by two plates joining together and pushing the rock in the middle, which has nowhere to go but up.
It doesn’t stay up forever through. The action of wind, rain and sun causes little bits to be broken off and then washed down stream.
Small pieces are left up stream and become in time, rock layers.
Sand is a very hard and resilient combination of silicon and oxygen that makes it’s way to the sea and builds up and is pushed to the sides by water, accumulating as beaches.
Eventually, so much builds up that it is weighed down further into the Earth, is melted, and becomes part of the next mountain.
And so the cycle continues.
Humans diverged from a line of apes about 1 million years ago.
Let’s remember now, that’s not very long ago compared to how old the Earth is.
The species we belong to; Homo sapiens, diverged about 200 thousand years ago.
It’s only in the last 6000 years, that humans have congregated into larger and larger groups and civilizations.
Civilizations have grown and died out many times in history. From Mesopotamia to Iraq, Rome and the Myan Indians.
Civilizations generally outgrow the lands surrounding which is not able to support more and more people with food. When food is short, all forms of political and social structure start to fray.
Generally, civilizations advance on the back of scientific and technical innovation.
The four forces of nature being discovered by European countries, went a long way to helping them advance ahead of the rest.
All human beings no matter what race or colour are exactly! the same there ain't but minuscule difference in DNA so little it does not count. What really counts is where they are born.So why did some races advance and dominate others, pure luck!
Europe just happened to have the right climate to grow grasses like wheat and barley that enable people to grow more food than they need for themselves. These grasses just so happen to contain all the amino acids for human nutrition. So some could grow food and others in the same group could work on other things like making tools and solving problems. Society began to advance. Europeans also got lucky in having hoofed animal species they could domesticate and use for food.
Newton discovered the force of gravity, which was a great leap forward, in that the force that holds the solar system together could now be accounted for and calculated. If that was so, then so might other things.
That then lead to many inventions and on to the industrial revolution.
Maxwell / Faraday discovered the electromagnetic force which led to a whole array of technological innovation, too many to mention. And now, I’m using it to write this.
Einstein discovered the strong force which holds the atom’s nucleus together.
Releasing this force, releases 2000 times the amount of energy for the same weight as fossil fuel.
We then also have the weak force, which is responsible for radioactive decay.
Civilizations over time, have turned their
thoughts to themselves. The Greeks have their gods of thunder. The Aboriginals
say the Earth is on the back of a turtle, and a group of desert tribesman from
the Bronze Age say the earth was created in seven days by an all powerful being
known as God.
Many people still hold fast to this explanation right to this day.
Then, these people say “if you don’t believe what I believe, you’re then labelled a heathen, infidel and atheist”, terms which all have a bad ring tone.
Galileo dared to question the Catholic Church on how the Earth was located in relation to the Universe.
He found the earth was not as they taught, at the centre of the Universe.
He was locked up for his findings so the church’s power would not be undermined.
Humans kept on asking and observing as it’s probably an evolutionary advantage to not toe the line, but learn and discover for your self.
I’m not saying religion in itself is bad, although many bad things are done in the name of religion. Books like the Bible, Koran and the teachings of Buddha, are an excellent guide through life, how to live it well and peacefully. They put you at ease and definitely calm your mind and make for a good night’s sleep.
It’s the impossibly untrue stories that just don’t make sense.
Many people still hold fast to this explanation right to this day.
Then, these people say “if you don’t believe what I believe, you’re then labelled a heathen, infidel and atheist”, terms which all have a bad ring tone.
Galileo dared to question the Catholic Church on how the Earth was located in relation to the Universe.
He found the earth was not as they taught, at the centre of the Universe.
He was locked up for his findings so the church’s power would not be undermined.
Humans kept on asking and observing as it’s probably an evolutionary advantage to not toe the line, but learn and discover for your self.
I’m not saying religion in itself is bad, although many bad things are done in the name of religion. Books like the Bible, Koran and the teachings of Buddha, are an excellent guide through life, how to live it well and peacefully. They put you at ease and definitely calm your mind and make for a good night’s sleep.
It’s the impossibly untrue stories that just don’t make sense.
So here, I have some good news and bad
news.
The good news is there is no hell.
The bad news is there is no heaven.
The thing I’d like to stress here, is if you don’t understand any of what I’ve been talking about from the beginning of this piece of writing and someone tells you a God has made you, you may believe it. However, if you learn and understand all of what I’ve mentioned, it’s very hard to believe the stories in the Bible, Koran, or those stories and beliefs past on by the Indians or Aboriginals, all of which are on the same foot hold.
You may even believe it’s possible to come back to life and instead of giving your money to your children, you may give it to a hope provider to freeze your body until science catches up and brings you back to life.
There is a fundamental problem with this one by the way, because as water freezes, it expands and bursts the cells you need to come back to life. That’s why I avoid frozen carrots. They’re mushy!
The world’s population is now 7 billion.
4 billion being here supported by the Haber process (which is a way to make fertiliser), it takes inert nitrogen from the air, reacts it with hydrogen under heat and pressure with an iron catalyst and makes perfect plant food.
There never seems to be enough food to go around. As populations increase, people are forced to encroach on less and less productive land, leading to famine, war and a fight for resources.
Man has been on the earth in what would be a blink of an eye in geologic time.
Although we live in cities, we’re still primarily motivated by sex, food and the need for social inclusion.
Be kind to all species including your own. Its causes less stress, less illness and you’ll feel better about the world and yourself.
Play your part however big or small.
And find a passion and follow it.
The good news is there is no hell.
The bad news is there is no heaven.
The thing I’d like to stress here, is if you don’t understand any of what I’ve been talking about from the beginning of this piece of writing and someone tells you a God has made you, you may believe it. However, if you learn and understand all of what I’ve mentioned, it’s very hard to believe the stories in the Bible, Koran, or those stories and beliefs past on by the Indians or Aboriginals, all of which are on the same foot hold.
You may even believe it’s possible to come back to life and instead of giving your money to your children, you may give it to a hope provider to freeze your body until science catches up and brings you back to life.
There is a fundamental problem with this one by the way, because as water freezes, it expands and bursts the cells you need to come back to life. That’s why I avoid frozen carrots. They’re mushy!
The world’s population is now 7 billion.
4 billion being here supported by the Haber process (which is a way to make fertiliser), it takes inert nitrogen from the air, reacts it with hydrogen under heat and pressure with an iron catalyst and makes perfect plant food.
There never seems to be enough food to go around. As populations increase, people are forced to encroach on less and less productive land, leading to famine, war and a fight for resources.
Man has been on the earth in what would be a blink of an eye in geologic time.
Although we live in cities, we’re still primarily motivated by sex, food and the need for social inclusion.
Be kind to all species including your own. Its causes less stress, less illness and you’ll feel better about the world and yourself.
Play your part however big or small.
And find a passion and follow it.
Barry Daly.
Just a normal Homo Sapien.
Dad, husband, photographer and lover of gardens.
Just a normal Homo Sapien.
Dad, husband, photographer and lover of gardens.
