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Earth and Life Science Notes

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Earth and Life Science Notes

Uploaded by

princessaniskyot
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Origin and Structure of the Earth

 Beliefs on how the universe began and how its structure was formed are
summarized under either:
-Theism (a divine creator of the universe) or;
-Atheism (a random chance of evolution of the universe)
 Historically, we can trace hypotheses on the nature and origin of the universe from
creation myths and stories by early civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks and
Chinese.
 These stories are either from chaotic rivers and oceans interacting from the skies
or from singularities that started to grow and expand in the darkness of oblivion.
 More than 2000 years ago, the Greeks (such as Eudoxus, Aristotle, Erastothenes
and Ptolemy) pushed for the Geocentric universe under the idea that the universe
was static.
 Geocentrism was eventually replaced by Heliocentrism (initially by Aristarchus of
Samos and improved by Galileo and Copernicus.)

STEADY STATE THEORY


(Herman bondi & Thomas Gold)

 States that although the galaxies are moving apart, the universe has no
beginning and has always existed in its present state.
 Based on the perfect cosmological principle: the universe is homogenous,
isotropic and constant in time.

Expanding Universe (Big bang) concept


(Georges lemaitre)

 The universe began as a single “primeval atom” that exploded to cause an


expanding universe.

 It was backed by Albert Einstein with his Theory of Relativity, predicting that the
universe is expanding ever since the Big Bang and that space itself contains a type
of energy that causes it to expand.

Composition of the Universe

 It is assumed that the universe is about 70% dark energy, 25 dark matter, and 5%
radiation and visible matter.
 Hydrogen, deuterium, and helium atoms comprising of the matter of the initial
universe are believed to have been formed about 13.8 billion years ago into the Big
Bang.

 These initial components created the first stars, and


nucleosynthesis in the stars created the other
elements, including carbon, silicon, calcium
magnesium, potassium, and iron.

The Solar System

 Our solar system started to form around 4.6 billion years ago.
 The dense and hot ball at the center grew even denser and hotter, and
eventually, nuclear reactions created the Sun.
 In about 1796, French astronomer and Mathematician Pierre Simon Laplace
developed the Nebular Hypothesis.
 In 1905, Thomas Chamberlain and Forest Moulton created the Planetesimal
Hypothesis.

Planetesimal / Encounter Hypothesis

 When a star passes close to the early Sun, the hot matter is tidally stripped from
the Sun and star.
 This material then fragmented into planetesimals which eventually formed the
planets in the solar system.
 This cites why the planets all revolve around the Sun and why the inner planets are
denser than the outer ones.

Protoplanet Hypothesis

 Recent acceptable model for the formation of our solar


system.
 Integrated several components of Laplace’s theory and
incorporates new ideas by understanding fluids and states of
matter.
 Planets formed and grew in size by accreting planetesimals.
 This theory is backed by isotopic research of the composition of the planets in the
solar system.

Formation of the Earth

 Initially, the primitive Earth’s interior is very hot and


molten
 Through the force of gravity, the Earth achieves its
spherical nature.
 The Earth’s layers were formed as denser material
sinks into the interior because of gravity.
 The interior now differentiates into a nickel-iron core,
a highly silicate mantle, and a thin igneous crust.

Formation of the Moon

 Soon enough, a planetoid collided with Earth.


 Such strong collision created debris that formed a ring around the Earth, as
posited by the Collision Theory.
 Gravity forced the debris to coalesce and formed Earth’s only natural satellite –
the Moon.

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