Shirley Lin, 827

How the Earth Formed NOTES

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earth is a unique planet, restless and dynamic, continents shift and crash, volcanoes erupt,
glaciers grow, titanic forces constantly at work,
Billions of years of erosion, volcanic eruptions, and the shifting of continents and oceans
have destroyed all the earliest evidence to how the earth first formed.
Northern Arizona, hole in ground formed when meteorite slammed into the ground.
Meteorites are older than all the rocks on the planet.
If all rocks come from space then that is where it must begin.
BEGINNING- 4 and a half billion years ago, the solar system first started. The Sun was
in the middle of dust and clouds, and as the sun cooled the dust became minerals and
rocks, and they all move around the sun, and bang into each other.
there was problem with theory, no one could explain how colliding these particles could
ever formed something as huge as the earth,
An astronaut wanted to figure out how, and he conducted a simple experiment by pouring
salt into bag and shaking it in space. When this was done, all the salt started sticking to
each other. The salts gravitational pull attracted them to each other.
His theory was that if salt sticks together in space so can rocks.
Pieces of meteorite contained minerals from every part of solar dust cloud.
The bigger the meteorite is, the faster it is and the more gravitational pull, so attracts
larger rocks.
It took over 30 billion years to build earth with random pieces of earth
What about the layers of the earth? Scientist believes that after it formed, it melted. When
that happened the denser went down and less dense went up. That is why the iron is the
core and the crust is rock.
Before the earth melted, it was just flowing lava everywhere, at 2 thousand degrees. But
at edge, it is two hundred thousand degrees cooler. In less than two thousand years, crust
formed, before the whole earth cooled.
When that happened? Geologist went to meteorite crater to try to find the age of
meteorite. Meteorite was born 4.5 billion years old, which means earth is at least 4.5
billion years old.
How was the moon formed? Theory was a planet size of mars crashed into earth, and the
little pieces formed the moon
But when scientists examine moon rock, it had less iron then earth. Conclusion was other
planet messed up crust and upper mantle of earth, and formed the moon. The other planet
didnt hit the earth head on, because none of the core was blasted out.
Hudson bay CANADA, rocks very old and odd. The rocks were 4.28 billion years old.
Rocks had to be formed under water. Amphibolites
Another rock type called banded iron formation- alternating silica, and magnetite, (rich in
iron). This only forms in water. But they dont know how much water or where water
came from?
Theory- by a meteorite, that had table salt, and a little bit of water. Age of water- at least
as old as solar system.
Allende, Mexico- meteorite contained amino acids, which contain protein. Every living
thing contains amino acids.
Stalagmite- found Cuatro Ciegnate, Mexico. They are made with bacteria. Bacteria
produce oxygen. CONCLUSION: bacteria created oxygen on earth.