• Question: do you have a scientific theory of how the world started?

    Asked by iluvwilmas to Adam, Joanna, Louise S, Marcus on 21 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Marcus Wilson

      Marcus Wilson answered on 21 Nov 2012:

      so the basic theory is that the whole solar system was formed gether fom a diffuse nebula of dust. at the center gravity forced lots of cosmic gas togethr to make the sun and around the edges of the gas cloud, planets formed from agregation around a small bit of solid material, like if you roll a small snowball down a roof – by the time it gets to the bottom it picks up snow and gets massive.

      the new earth would then start to attract other bits of cosmic matter towards it by gravity until evntually it was soo big that it starts to compress forming first solid rock, then molten rock. an atmosphere was formed form the gasses given off by the molten rock and then a crust of solid rock formed creating the ground we know today. the earths magnetic field ensured thatt the atmosphere wasnt stripped away.

      this all happened about 4.5 billion years ago!

    • Photo: Joanna Giles

      Joanna Giles answered on 21 Nov 2012:

      Hi!
      I think I believe the scientific theory that Marcus has described, and I don’t really have my own!
      Although when I was young I did wonder if everything was real of if I was in some kind of dream, or maybe that we were all just some science project of some aliens far far away… OR that maybe we are a reality tv show for another planet!! Ok so they aren’t scientific theories, but who is to say they can’t be true??

    • Photo: Adam Paige

      Adam Paige answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      Joanna’s comment about her wondering as a child if the world was just a dream. There is a famous story about the Bishop of Berkeley who gave an argument of logic that matter did not really exist, that everything in the universe is an ideal. Afterwards his listeners were saying that although they may not agree with the Bishop, they could not refute his arguments (they couldn’t prove that matter definitely did exist). Overhearing them, Samuel Johnson slammed his toe into a large stone on the ground and (painfully!) exclaimed “I refute it thus”! I always liked that story.

      As for the formation of the world as Marcus explained, isn’t it really cool that everything around us (including us) is made of stardust?

      And the fact that the earth has a metal core and thus has a magnetic field is absolutely important. As Marcus said, it prevented our atmosphere being stripped away. It also deflects the cosmic rays from the sun which otherwise would have reached the surface of the earth and killed all life here before it could grow. Not all planets have magnetic fields, and any that don’t would not allow life as we know it to form.

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