Formation of the Planet

Earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago from the same nebula cloud of gas and dust that formed the
Sun and other planets. Earth back then was very different from Earth now, and it would have been
impossible for life to exist on it. The Earth is still changing even today. It has a molten layer, which
causes volcanoes to occasionally erupt, and the crust of the planet is constantly moving, sliding
over, under, and sideways against itself. Let's look at how the Earth may have become like the
planet it is now.

When the
universe
began, around
10-13 billion
years ago,
Earth wasn't
around. Neither
was our solar
system. Our
With erupting volcanoes and a constantly moving crust, the Earth is changing even today
solar system,
the Milky Way, was formed in a perfectly ordinary place in the universe in the normal way. Solar
systems and the planets within them form from the spinning disks of matter. Slowly, the grains of
matter come together to form clumps, then boulders, and eventually balls big enough to have their
own gravity coalesced. At this point, these clump matter are called planetesimals, which just
means a small, irregular-shaped body formed by colliding matter.

Eventually, the planetesimals grew larger by colliding and combining with other bodies of matter. As
the planetesimals grew larger, their gravity was greater, and they collected even more matter. Some
of the planetesimals began to orbit the main star, our Sun. When they do this, they are considered
to be a planet, an astronomical object that orbits a star and does not shine with its own light. Earth
formed this way about 4.6 billion years ago and was mostly done in about 10-20 million years,
although it still continues to change to this day.

Formation of Earth's Layers

Earth is the third planet, counting outward from the Sun, and the beginning stages of its life were
violent. During the first eons of Earth's life, it was under continuous bombardment by meteorites and
comets. These bombardments helped shaped the planet and brought water in the form of ice. They
also enriched the Earth with carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, and ammonia.

At first, the Earth was extremely hot and much larger than it is now. It was made of rock, different
compounds, and dense elements, like solid and liquid iron. As Earth cooled and contracted, the
heavier material moved to the centre of the Earth to form the core. The liquid material settled over
the core to form the mantle. As the Earth cooled more, a solid crust formed over the liquid middle,
much like the crust forms on a pan of brownies while the middle is still molten. This is how Earth
differentiated into three layers. The layer that we live on is the crust and is the thin brown layer on
the diagram. It is thickest under the continents and thinner under the oceans. It is about 50 miles
down at its thickest. The crust is actually not as solid as it feels to us and shifts, sometimes abruptly
during earthquakes, and very slowly as when continents drift. The different pieces of the earth's
crust are referred to as plates, and their movements towards and away from each other are called
plate tectonics.

Formation of Water and

Atmosphere
As the Earth cooled even more over time,
it formed a primitive atmosphere. The
solid crust was covered with active
volcanoes that spewed out gasses like
water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
ammonia that add to the helium and
hydrogen from the original solar nebula.
Earth is made up of three layers: a core, a mantle and a crust
Light from the sun broke down the
ammonia, which released nitrogen into
the atmosphere. It wasn't until the evolution of bacteria a few billion years later that the atmosphere
contained oxygen.

The water vapour that was in the atmosphere condensed and formed clouds. As Earth cooled more,
the water vapour formed droplets in the clouds, and it started to rain. This water, along with the ice
from the comets, formed the oceans and lakes. The water was all fresh at first but eventually
became salty as chemicals from the Earth's crust were mixed in.

References
1. education-portal.com/academy/.../formation-of-the-earth-theories.html

2. http://www.mcwdn.org/MAPS&GLOBES/Earth.html