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Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago, approximately one-third the age of the universe, by accretion from the solar nebula. [4][5][6] Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphere and then the ocean, but the early atmosphere contained almost no oxygen.
Jul 1, 2024 · Key points in Earth’s formation include the initial birth of our planet within the solar nebula, the differentiation into layers, and the dynamic interplay of geological processes that have shaped the Earth we know today.
Jun 30, 2014 · Take a tour through the fascinating geologic record left behind by the major milestones in Earth's 4.5 billion years. Here, we focus on the events that shaped the planet's surface, such as...
Aug 21, 2019 · A history-of-Earth timeline includes everything from the birth of the sun and solar system to present-day earthquakes in California. Changes over the past 4.6 billion years were usually slow and incremental, but also sometimes violent and unforeseen, like giant meteorite strikes.
- Mary Dowd
- Namesake. The name Earth is at least 1,000 years old. All of the planets, except for Earth, were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. However, the name Earth is a Germanic word, which simply means “the ground.”
- Potential for Life. Earth has a very hospitable temperature and mix of chemicals that have made life abundant here. Most notably, Earth is unique in that most of our planet is covered in liquid water, since the temperature allows liquid water to exist for extended periods of time.
- Size and Distance. With an equatorial diameter of 7926 miles (12,760 kilometers), Earth is the biggest of the terrestrial planets and the fifth largest planet in our solar system.
- Orbit and Rotation. As Earth orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 23.9 hours. It takes 365.25 days to complete one trip around the Sun. That extra quarter of a day presents a challenge to our calendar system, which counts one year as 365 days.
Apr 8, 2022 · When Earth first formed it had barely any atmosphere. Its atmosphere began to form as the planet started to cool and gravity captured gases from Earth's volcanoes.
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Jan 11, 2020 · Earth was created about 4.54 billion years ago by accumulation from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped cloud of gas and dust leftover from the creation of the Sun, which also built other planets and their moons of the Solar System.