How Earth was formed and 3 stages through which it came to its current state

Understanding how stars and other celestial bodies were formed in the universe is a very complex task and needs a lot of research. When we come to the question of how the Earth was formed, then we do have some answers to it based on centuries of scientific studies and space observations. Science have tried to solve this mystery to some extent.

The history of the formation of the Earth is no different from the history of our Solar System. Earth is the third planet from the sun, and probably the only place which is inhabited by living things. Earth is also the only place with liquid water on the surface. 

Read | Giant sunspot, triple the size of Earth, creates solar flare scare: How dangerous is it?

So here we try to delve into the question as to how the Earth was formed and what processes and factors contributed to its formation. Let us know what science says about this?

Three different stages through which Earth came to its current state

Scientists believe that Earth, like the other inner planets, came to its current state in three different stages.

1. The first stage is known as accretion, or the formation of a planet from the existing particles within the solar system as they collided with each other to form larger and larger bodies.

2. The next stage involved the collision of a protoplanet with a very young planet Earth. This is thought to have occurred more than 4.5 billion years ago and may have resulted in the formation of Earth's moon.

3. The final stage of development saw the bombardment of the planet with asteroids.

How was Earth's early atmosphere?

Scientists suggest, Earth's early atmosphere was most likely composed of hydrogen and helium. As the planet changed, and the crust began to form, volcanic eruptions occurred frequently. These volcanoes pumped water vapor, ammonia, and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere around Earth.

Due to this, slowly the oceans began to take shape, and eventually, primitive life evolved near those oceans.

Gas and dust particles

Billions of years ago, a cloud of gas and dust was moving in a corner of the Milky Way Galaxy. It also contained the remains of an old star that had a supernova explosion long ago. The gas and dust particles floated but they were initially far away.

But then a supernova explosion also occurred in a nearby star, due to which the shock waves of light and energy spread all around in space, due to which the gas and dust particles in this cloud came closer.

Sun and the formation of the disc

Soon the cloud of gas and dust turned into a giant ball and due to the effect of gravity, it became bigger. The gas and dust particles interacted and a powerful nuclear reaction took place inside the ball, and the cloud ball turned into a sun-like star. Whereas, a lot of dust and gas started circling the sun, which is called the Protoplanetary Disk.

Formation of baby planets

Over time, the gas and dust particles again started coming closer and the process of planet formation started. Soon these gas and dust particles together began to take a large size while the gas and dust particles were still circling the sun. Dust and gas particles started joining in more quantity from these bodies and one of them later became our Earth.

Giant planets

On the other hand, the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and their moons were also formed from other parts. All the baby planets were rotating and were also pulling the matter around them towards them and increasing their size. Many stones were colliding with our Earth and falling inside it. In the process, this substance heated up and became a giant ball of molten rock.

Moon formation

Meanwhile, another big incident happened. The Earth collided with another huge body, due to which the Earth became even bigger, but a piece of it also started floating in the distant space, which later became the only natural satellite of our planet, the moon.

Some scientists also object to this concept, but this belief is the strongest right now. At that time there were many volcanoes in the Earth.

Earth cooling

Slowly the Earth started cooling but it took a lot of time. Meanwhile, many ice rocks and gas came to the Earth and due to the melting of ice, seas and oceans started to form here. The process of cooling of the Earth continued for a long time and the upper layer of the Earth cooled and solidified while the molten rocks in the depth remained warm.

After this, favourable conditions for life were created on Earth. Animals and other organisms evolved from the atmosphere, ocean, trees and plants on the earth. During this, there were events of great destruction and some extreme seasonal changes in the Earth, which led to the arrival of many new species.

Meanwhile the dinosaurs came and died. After this, humans developed on the Earth only a few million years ago.

(With NASA and Science journal Inputs)