Thursday, October 29, 2009

Formation Of Earth - An Amazing History



The theory which explain the origin of earth and this Universe is called Big Bang Theory. According to this theory all matter in the Universe was, at one time, concentrated in a giant mass (a black hole?) that blew apart about 10 to 20 billion years ago (bya) and is still expanding.

Origin of Sun:
It is thought that our solar system had its origins when, about 5 bya, triggered by some unknown cause, a cloud of interstellar dust and gases collapsed and condensed. Some of the matter in the central mass contracted under its own gravity, condensed, and heated until forces were so strong that thermonuclear reactions began, and this was the origin of our star, the Sun.

Origin of Planets:
About 4.6 to 4.5 billion year ago, a disk-shaped cloud of subsidiary smaller lumps, pieces, dust, gases, etc. orbiting the sun subsequently coalesced and condensed to form theplanets, satellites, asteroids, comets, etc.

Formation Of Atmosphere:
 It is thought that Earth began as a cold world, and the very first atmosphere may have been hydrogen gas, but since that is so light weight and very chemically reactive, most of it would have floated off into space or reacted with other substances, thus would have been rapidly dissipated. Then some other volcanic activities and other chemical reaction took place.The inner four, solid planets have started out with similar atmospheres of H2O, CO2, CO, and N2. These chemicals made up the atmosphere of our planet for the first 1 billion years, and initially, provided similar atmospheres for the other three solid planets.However, the distance of each of these planets from the sun has influenced what subsequently took place there:
  • Mercury is too close to the sun and too hot. Any water that might have been there (and any other volatile chemicals) would, long ago, have evaporated into space.
  • Venus also is too close to the sun to have any surface water. 
  • Mars, on the other hand, is too far away from the sun, and so is too cold. Any water and carbon dioxide present on the planet are frozen solid in the “ice” cap. Also, the planet is too small to hold very much atmosphere, and there is not enough of a greenhouse effect to keep the planet warm. Thus, there is essentially no atmosphere left.
But these conditions happen to be just right here on planet Earth. We are just the right distance from the sun! On Earth, the heat and the size are such that the water is neither all frozen nor all vaporized. Because liquid water is present, this has enabled formation of the lakes and oceans needed for life to evolve.

Formation of Earth Surface:
Over the next 3.5 billion years, the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere was reduced as it became incorporated into rocks (limestone is CaCO3 and forms when H2O + CO2 --> H2CO3and H2CO3 + Ca++ --> CaCO3 + 2H+). The liquid oceans formed about 3.8 billion years ago, and life has been present for nearly as long. Evidence would indicate that on early Earth, there was much more volcanic activity, many more electrical storms, and more violent and destructive meteor impacts. Because of this impact heating (and Earth’s internal heat) the Earth subsequently melted, and heavier molten materials sank to the center, forming the core, while lighter ones floated to surface and formed the crust. Thus Earth now has several layers:
  • A central core composed of very dense metals such as iron and nickle
  • The mantle, which actually consists of several layers of varying composition, and is a molten, medium density, viscous liquid
  • The crust floats on the outside. Because the minerals in the crust are cooler, they have formed strong, rocky layers collectively referred to as the lithosphere.
Origins of Life:
The atmosphere was made largely of water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen (N2), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). As the surface of Earth cooled again, torrential rains of this mixture formed the first seas, the “primordial soup.”
1. First, organic monomers (simple sugars, amino acids, fatty acids, and nucleotides) would have to be synthesized abiotically from inorganic substances like methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia. Around all 20 amino acids, and a number of sugars, lipids, and nucleotides have been obtained from these inorganic substances(H2O, H2, CH4 and NH3)

2. The second step would be the formation of organic polymers and genetic material from the existing monomers (polysaccharides from simple sugars, proteins from amino acids, and RNA from nucleotides), possibly using hot sand or finely divided clay as a catalyst.

3. Thirdly, it is thought that non-living aggregates of these polymers formed. These may have exhibited some properties characteristic of living organisms, but were NOT ALIVE, and did not have all the properties of living organisms. In a research laboratory, scientists have seen mixtures of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates form globules. If the proteins involved happen to be enzymes, these globules can even carry on "metabolic" activity, although they have no means to replicate themselves. Several widely-accepted theories as to how this may have happened include the possibly involvement of damp, zinc-containing clay as a catalyst to help the nucleotides polymerize first into RNA, and later into DNA.

4. It is thought, then, that about 4.1 to 3.5 billion years ago, the first prokaryotes, like bacteria, came into existance. It is difficult to pinpoint a date for this because bacteria don't have skeletons to leave behind. The first “fossils” (remains of colonies/secretions) of prokaryotes seem to be this age. Once the first cells, the first living organisms, the first prokaryotes came into existance, then the Theory of Evolution takes over to provide an explanation for how (not why) these primitive cells diversified into the five kingdoms of life which we recognize today.
Initially, the energy needed for growth and development was supplied by glycolysis and fermentation. There was no free oxygen in the early atmosphere, and indeed, any organisms living back then would have probably been poisoned/killed by this highly-reactive chemical. Only later, as photosynthetic organisms released increasing amounts of this toxic waste into the atmosphere, did the process of cellular respiration evolve as a means of making use of this oxygen.

26 comments:

Pratik said...

Very Informative !!

Mahesh Aadhya Kalal said...

Hi....i am reading your blog since 3 days....i wonder abt the patience you have to collect and present the information....
Being a knowledge and wisdom geek, i loved your blog.....
Great efforts indeed...
Wanna read something about evolution and religion....

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@Mahesh
Thnx for giving ur time to my Blog...

i will surely be adding post on evolutions nd india's religion....

but it will take some time....

hope u wont mind....keep visiting

Mohsin said...

Great Info buddy...but liked those bout Leaning tower and Bermuda more than this earth formation....nothing wrong here...just was more curious in those two since my childhood !!! :)

angel from heaven said...

You have packed this post with some really good facts. Well done.

Nethra said...

I had read it back at school but it felt good to be reading it again.
Keep blogging.
Why don't you write about mysteries behind Mummies and Indian Gods?

bilal.... said...

u made me to recall my school days :) hey, can u post about mayan calendar 2012 prediction

Prashant Mehta said...

Amazing facts. I had read almost similar information at University of Cincinnati site. Are you by any chance from that univ?

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Courses/bio303/bigbang.htm

VeeKay said...

great post..it was very informative..I appreciate ur efforts to collect the information..nice effort..keep going..:)

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@prashant
no buddy i was not frm that university. I read awl these things in my school :)

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@Nethra thnx for telling me the topic..

will surely add awl these...but problm is i cant post multiple post simultaneously nd hv to give sm time gap btwn 2 posts....

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@bilal

i will try...i will search for that topic nd if found it mysterious nd unique i will definitely write about it...

thnx for suggestion
keep visiting :)

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@wasmi, @Angel nd @MOhsin

Thnx for appreciating my effort

keep visiting :)

Dan* said...

yup i saw the documentary on Nat Geo

keep posting such stuff :)

Vishnu Vardhanan said...

Nice post dude...You must have a lot of patience to collect these info...pictures that u have employed are also good...gr8 work..keep going...

aninda said...

my nephew would be a big fan of you .. off late he is fascinated by the solar sys

Anonymous said...

you are really providing good information here. Suggested my few friends to visit and read your blog..
Keep writing
:)

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@vishnu

yup buddy.....a lot of research nd have to maintain a gap between consecutive post....thnx for visiting

Krishna Nagri said...

pretty intresting facts dude

Anoop said...

hey...these topics r always my interests.. hehe..
i love mysteries f universe n all..n science fictions.. ;)

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@vijay, krishna and anoop
These are my interest too...
thnx nd keep visiting :)

murthy_thehandsome(?) said...

dude very informative.. I knew about the formation, i guess learnt in school but not this much deep. awesome man. simply awesome.
Carry on the good work..

mk said...

thts a whole lots of information dude!!///

doing gud job..educating abt such things in blog!...

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@mk nd @murthy...

thnx for the appriciation..

keep visiting :)

pranay tiwari said...

you really do some background work b4 posting dont u..... good work ... can we hav something on human life or something.... its just a suggestion....

HIMANSHU KARKI said...

@pranay
yes man....a lot background work
consumes almost a day nd smtimes 2...

will definitely be posting smthing on human life if i really find smthing very interesting :)

Thnx...keep visiting

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