A Brief History of the Beginning of Earth Notes

(Be sure to add: pictures, examples, questions to the margins)

Events on Early Earth

● How Earth began and how life began are based off of some
____________________________
experimental data and some observations on how
other solar systems have begun
hypothesis
● There are large gaps and many _________________, so this
information may change as new information is gathered

Formation of Earth
4.6 billion years old
● Earth is about _____________
● It took about 1million years for cosmic debris to collect
and was often hit by large objects
● Some of the collisions may have been enough to ______
to melt
all the pieces together
middle
● The densest material sank to the _____________
● The medium density stuff floated to the top and hardened
to a crust
atmosphere
● The lightest material formed the _______________
■ Lots of Hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, carbon
nitrogen
monoxide, ____________, hydrogen sulfide, and
water

About 4 Billion years ago

● First ___________
solid rock on the surface
● Violent Volcanoes
● Comets, asteroids
● No Oceans! The surface was too hot, water existed as _________
steam
in the atmosphere

Oceans Appear
3.8 billion years ago the surface cools enough for there to be
● ____________
oceans
● Most of the surface is covered in water
iro
● Oceans were brown with ____________
n
So How did life begin?
● There are many hypothesis, some supported by experimental
evidence
 ● The following are some of the most likely:

Primordial Soup: all the pieces are around

● Electric sparks:
amino acids (building blocks of protein)
● Electricity can make _______________
an sugar
● Lighting could have been the key piece
complex molecules could form
● Over millions of years more _____________________
● Miller-Urey Partnership
● Run an experiment in 1953, that mirrors the early atmosphere
● Over a few days of sparks they begin to see the
amino acids
_____________________ forming

Community Clay
crystals in clay
● Organic compounds could form ___________
● This would help explain how the parts could form highly
organized
_____________________________ on their own.

Deep Sea Vents

hydrogen. and ________________
● Lots of _______________, minerals to get the
original compounds may have allowed life to start

RNA World
● Now: DNA needs proteins in order to form, but proteins need
dna
__________
● RNA may have bridged the gap

Reactions first
product cycles of ___________
● Instead of starting with the ___________, reactions
could have started first (break down of sugar to get energy)
● The more efficient reactions would evolve over time

Panspermia
● Life started on another planet, or solar system and was brought
here by a comet or meteorite
● But the question still remains: how did life start on that planet?

Earliest Rocks/Earliest Fossils

3.8 bil
● The oldest rocks have been dated to ______________ years ago
 ● Not long later (only 300 million years later) we have our first
fossils of living organisms: _______________________
cyanobacteria

How Fossils Form

● Many different types and ways:
■ ____________
footprints in the sand
amber
■ Entire organisms preserved in ice or ___________
rock
■ Bones and other hard parts preserved in _________

Rock Fossils
● Animal/plant/bacteria dies, and is quickly covered by sand, or
____________________
sediment which protects the bones or shells from
being broken down by weather or other animals
minerals that
● The organic bones/shells are slowly replaced by __________
make a copy of the bone/shell

How do we know how old fossils are?

● Radioactive dating:
atoms
● Some of the ___________ in the rock break down at a
predictable rate
measure
● We can _______________ how many of the atoms have
broken down to tell us when the fossil formed
● Scientists will use certain shelled organisms that have
been dated to tell us when other fossils near where they
formed

Some Highlights!
oxygen appears
● _____________________!
● Photosynthetic Bacteria begin pouring out oxygen as a
photosynthesis
byproduct of _______________________
● Oxygen causes the iron in the ocean to rust, and fall out

Now that we have Oxygen

● After the rust event, oxygen starts building up in the
atmosphere
___________________
● Ozone layer starts to form
● Now we have blue skies!
ozone layer
● _________________________ protects us against UV rays, this will
allow life to develop on land
● Oxygen actually killed out many organisms, but allowed
room for other organisms that used Oxygen to evolve
 Eukaryotic Cells are found

endosymbiotic theory
● _____________________________
● Prokaryotic Cells (no internal membranes) start working with
other cells
● A bigger cell engulfs smaller cell that is good at respiration and
that ends up being a mitochondria

First Multicellular Fossils found

● New fossils found in 2010 that showed organisms had formed

______________________,
2.1 billion years ago before that scientists thought they
were formed around .6 billion years ago

Sexual Reproduction

sexual reproduction
● First evidence of ____________________________ takes place 1.2
billion years ago
● Before this all new genes and new combinations are purely
driven by mutations
genetic variety This allows for
● Now we have a second way for________________.
faster evolution

Summary: (How did early earth form? And what are some of the prevailing theories
for how life began?)

The earth formed 4.6 billion years ago. Some theories about how life began are
that hydrogen and minerals in clay allowed life to start. It is also possible that life started on a
meteor and was transferred down to earth. Fossils are evidence of previous life on earth
and can be formed from footprints in the sand, organisms preserved in amber or ice,
and bones preserved in rock. You are able to measure how old a fossil is
by using radioactive dating.