THE EARLY LIFE

ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE AND EARTH

What explains the birth of the Universe?
“The Big Bang Theory”
The Big Bang Theory which states that the
Universe began to expand after a super
powerful explosion of concentrated matter
and energy.

Also states that in the beginning, the

universe was all in one place.

All of its matter and energy were squished

into an infinitely small point, a singularity,
then it exploded.
Then, over millions of years, gravity
drew the gases together and they
condensed to form giants stars.
How old is the Universe?
About 13 to 15 billion years old

According to NASA
---13.7 billion plus minus about 130,000
years.

note: they were able to do this by making

detailed observation of fluctuations
Who preconceived the idea, that the
latter became the well known Big
Bang Theory?
George Henri Joseph Eduard Lemaitre
or
“George Lemaitre”
A Belgian priest, astronomer and professor
at Catholic University of Louvain. The first
person to propose the theory of the
expansion of the Universe.
Conditions on the Early Earth
For the first half billion years of its existence, the
surface of the Earth was repeatedly pulverized by
asteroids and comets of all sizes.

The early earth received a constant hail of

meteorites and was struck by many asteroids.

Along with the substances released by frequent

volcanic eruptions provided the components of
the land, seas, and atmosphere.
Right after its creation, the Earth is thought to
have had a thin atmosphere composed
primarily of Helium (He) and Hydrogen (H)
gases.

But geologic evidence suggests our planet

started out with little or no free oxygen.

The apparent lack of oxygen interests scientist

because it would have facilitated some
proposed steps on the path to life.
The earth gravity could not hold these light gases and
they easily escaped into outer space.

Today H and He are very rare in our atmosphere.

For the next several hundred million years, volcanic out

gassing began to create a thicker atmosphere
composed of a wide variety of gases.

The gases that were released were probably similar to

those created by modern volcanic eruptions.
Liquid water is essential to life as we know it because
molecules that carry out metabolic reactions have to be
dissolved in water.

It is hypothesized that the water vapor escaping from the

interior of the earth via countless volcanic eruptions created
the oceans (this took hundreds millions of years.

Astronomers also hypothesize that the comets impacting the

Earth were a major source of water that contributed to
creation of the oceans.

Remember, that the comets are best described as “dirty ice

balls.”