Life and Death of Earth According to Scientists
About 4.7 billion years ago, Earth was just a solid rock, and the first solids to condense were materials like aluminum calcium. As the temperature cooled, minerals began to form, and these compounds combined to create the rocks we see today. The planet gradually increased in size through a process known as Accretion.
Around 4.6 billion years ago, large planets like Jupiter and Saturn had enough mass to attract part of the Sun’s hydrogen and helium gas atmosphere with their gravity. This atmosphere bypassed Earth and other smaller planets, which is why Earth and others are rocky and solid. Solid fragments in space collided with each other, and Earth seemed to have collided with a body the size of Mars.
Approximately 4.5 billion years ago, the Moon was born. Some satellites of the solar system formed in the same way as the planets, while others were captured by planets.
Around 3.8 billion years ago, Earth cooled from its accretion, but its primitive mineral crust broke in fragile areas due to increased internal pressure from the planet's core. Intense volcanic activity covered Earth's surface, and rivers of lava flowed across it. Smaller bodies like the Moon cooled down and became inert.
Around 3.7 billion years ago, the atmosphere formed. Gases from volcanic activity stuck to Earth, whose mass generated a certain gravity that attracted heavier and cooler gas molecules. Earth lost almost all its hydrogen and helium while trapping molecules like nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor, and carbon dioxide, forming the layer we now call the Atmosphere.
Around 3.6 billion years ago, Earth experienced a great flood. Volcanic activity decreased, and the planet began to cool significantly. Condensed water vapor caused continuous rainfall for 100 million years, leading to the formation of oceans in the lowest areas. During this process, carbon dioxide, which had made the atmosphere unbreathable, dissolved in the water to form carbonates.
Around 3.5 billion years ago, life began. The remaining carbon released energy that formed organic molecules. Organic remains, buried in rocks over 3 billion years ago, mark the early presence of life. Around 500 million years ago, most of the living organisms appeared.
About 250 million years ago, the continents collided. Two large landmasses collided, forming the supercontinent known as Pangea. It later fragmented and rejoined in the Mesozoic era, about 225 million years ago, then stabilized, forming Pangea 2. Eventually, it separated, creating the Atlantic Ocean.
About 65 million years ago, ocean temperatures dropped, and significant volcanic activity and climate change occurred. According to several theories, still debatable, the impact of an asteroid in the Americas generated a dust cloud that blocked the Sun and caused the extinction of many species, including dinosaurs, which had been evolving during the Mesozoic era.
TODAY, after the formation of glaciers, several glaciation periods and interglacial stages have been recorded. About 3.5 million years ago, hominids appeared. Animals, plants, and especially humans began to be influenced by climatic processes. Earth has become a living planet, unique in the solar system and perhaps in the entire universe.
In 150 million years, if tectonic plates continue to function as they do now, dynamic movements in the lithosphere will make Earth's geography completely different from what we know today. The North Atlantic will begin to close, Australia will collide with the Middle East, forming a new continent. The Indian and Pacific Oceans will merge, and the Mediterranean Sea will slowly disappear.
In 4.5 billion years, Earth will be covered by water. The planet will gradually shut down internally, and there will be no earthquakes, volcanic activity, or tectonic movements. The crust will erode, forming a smooth sphere covered by water. The Sun could begin to engulf the closest planets. In this case, Earth’s temperature may rise, making life impossible, just like it is today on the planet Venus.
In 5.5 billion years, Earth will be ejected from the solar system. The fate of the lifeless rock that Earth will become is hard to predict, but it will likely share the same fate as the Sun. If the Sun behaves like other stars, a great explosion could throw Earth, a dead rock, outside the solar system. Another possibility is that the Sun will slowly extinguish.
After 6 billion years, when the Sun's explosion ends, the remnants of the Sun and its planets and satellites will become gas particles and dust fragments, cooling down until they reach the temperature of interstellar space, several hundred degrees below zero. By then, the small planet that once hosted life and human civilizations will return to its origins.
