In one galaxy, there are about 100 billion stars, and in total there are 100 billion galaxies in our Universe. If you were to travel from Earth to the very edge of the universe, it would take you more than 15 billion years, provided that you move at the speed of light - 300,000 km per second. But where did the cosmic matter come from? How did the universe originate? The history of the Earth has about 4.6 billion years. During this time, many millions of species of plants and animals arose and died out on it; the highest mountain ranges grew and turned to dust; huge continents then split into pieces and scattered into different sides, then collided with each other, forming new giant land masses. How do we know all this? The fact is that, despite all the catastrophes and cataclysms that the history of our planet is so rich in, surprisingly much of its turbulent past is imprinted in rocks ah, existing to this day, in the fossils that are found in them, as well as in the organisms of living beings that live on Earth today. Of course, this chronicle is incomplete. We come across only fragments of it, voids gap between them, whole chapters fall out of the narrative, which are extremely important for understanding what really happened. And yet, even in such a truncated form, the history of our Earth will not yield in fascination to any detective novel.

Astronomers believe that our world arose as a result of the Big Bang. Exploding, gigantic fire ball scattered matter and energy throughout space, which subsequently condensed, forming billions of stars, and those, in turn, united into numerous galaxies.

The Big Bang Theory.

The theory, which is followed by most modern scientists, states that the Universe was formed as a result of the so-called Big Bang. An incredibly hot fireball, the temperature of which reached billions of degrees, at some point exploded and scattered flows of energy and particles of matter in all directions, giving them tremendous acceleration.
Any substance consists of tiny particles - atoms. Atoms are the smallest material particles that can take part in chemical reactions. However, they, in turn, consist of even smaller, elementary particles. In the world there are many varieties of atoms, which are called chemical elements. Each chemical element includes atoms of a certain size and weight and is different from other chemical elements. Therefore, in the course of chemical reactions, each chemical element behaves only in its own way. Everything in the universe, from the largest galaxies to the smallest living organisms, is made up of chemical elements.

After the Big Bang.

Since the fireball shattered into pieces as a result of the Big Bang had an enormous temperature, tiny particles of matter had at first too great energy and could not combine with each other to form atoms. However, after about a million years, the temperature of the universe dropped to 4000 "C, and from elementary particles began to take shape various atoms. The lightest came first chemical elements- helium and hydrogen. Gradually, the Universe cooled more and more and heavier elements were formed. The process of formation of new atoms and elements continues to this day in the depths of stars such as, for example, our Sun. Their temperature is unusually high.
The universe was cooling down. The newly formed atoms gathered into gigantic clouds of dust and gas. Dust particles collided with each other, merged into a single whole. Gravitational forces pulled small objects towards larger ones. As a result, galaxies, stars, and planets formed over time in the Universe.

The earth has a molten core rich in iron and nickel. The Earth's crust is composed of lighter elements and seems to float on the surface of partially molten rocks that form the Earth's mantle.

Expanding Universe.

The Big Bang turned out to be so powerful that all the matter in the universe with great speed scattered across outer space. Moreover, the universe continues to expand to this day. We can say this with confidence because distant galaxies are still moving away from us, and the distances between them are constantly increasing. This means that once the galaxies were located much closer friend to a Friend than in our day.

No one knows exactly how the solar system formed. The underlying theory is that the sun and planets formed from a swirling cloud. space gas and dust. The denser parts of this cloud, with the help of gravitational forces, attracted an increasing amount of matter from the outside. As a result, the Sun and all its planets arose from it.

Microwaves from the past.

Based on the assumption that the universe was formed as a result of a "hot" Big Bang, that is, it emerged from a giant fireball, scientists tried to calculate to what extent it should have cooled by now. They came to the conclusion that the temperature of intergalactic space should be about -270°C. Scientists also determine the temperature of the Universe by the intensity of microwave (thermal) radiation coming from the depths of space. The measurements carried out confirmed that it really is approximately -270 "C.

What is the age of the universe?

To find out the distance to a particular galaxy, astronomers determine its size, brightness and color of the light it emits. If the Big Bang theory is correct, then it means that all the galaxies that exist today were originally squeezed into one super-dense and hot fireball. You just need to divide the distance from one galaxy to another by the speed with which they are moving away from each other to establish how long ago they were a single whole. This will be the age of the universe. Of course, this method does not allow obtaining accurate data, but still it gives reason to believe that the age of the Universe is from 12 to 20 billion years.

A lava flow flows from the crater of the Kilauea volcano, located on the island of Hawaii. When lava comes to the surface of the Earth, it solidifies, forming new rocks.

Education solar system.

Galaxies formed, in all likelihood, about 1 to 2 billion years after the Big Bang, and the solar system arose about 8 billion years later. After all, matter was not evenly distributed over space. The denser regions, due to gravitational forces, attracted more and more dust and gas. The size of these areas rapidly increased. They turned into giant swirling clouds of dust and gas - the so-called nebulae.
One such nebula - namely the solar nebula - condensed to form our Sun. From other parts of the cloud, clots of matter arose that became planets, including the Earth. They were kept in their near-solar orbits by a powerful gravitational field Sun. As gravitational forces pulled the particles of solar matter closer and closer together, the Sun became smaller and denser. At the same time, tremendous pressure arose in the solar core. It transformed into a colossal thermal energy, and this, in turn, accelerated thermo nuclear reactions inside the sun. As a result, new atoms were formed and even more heat was released.

The emergence of conditions for life.

Approximately the same processes, although on a much smaller scale, took place on Earth. The Earth's core was rapidly shrinking. Due to nuclear reactions and the decay of radioactive elements in the bowels of the Earth, so much heat was released that the rocks that formed it melted. Lighter substances rich in silicon, a glass-like mineral, separated in the earth's core from denser iron and nickel to form the first earth's crust. After about a billion years, when the Earth cooled significantly, the earth's crust hardened and turned into a solid outer shell our planet, consisting of solid rocks.
As it cooled, the Earth ejected many different gases from its core. This usually happened during volcanic eruptions. Light gases such as hydrogen or helium for the most part vanished into space. However, the Earth's gravity was strong enough to keep more than heavy gases. They formed the basis of the earth's atmosphere. Part of the water vapor from the atmosphere condensed, and oceans appeared on Earth. Now our planet was fully prepared to become the cradle of life.

Birth and death of rocks.

Terrestrial land is formed by solid rocks, often covered with a layer of soil and vegetation. But where do these rocks come from? New rocks are formed from a substance that is born deep in the bowels of the Earth. In the lower layers earth's crust the temperature is much higher than on the surface, and their constituent rocks are under enormous pressure. Under the influence of heat and pressure, rocks bend and soften, or even melt. As soon as it forms in the earth's crust weakness, molten rocks - they are called magma - break through to the surface of the Earth. Magma flows out of the vents of volcanoes in the form of lava and spreads to large area. As it hardens, lava turns into solid rock.

Explosions and fire fountains.

In some cases, the birth of rocks is accompanied by grandiose cataclysms, in others it passes quietly and imperceptibly. There are many varieties of magma, and they form Various types rocks. For example, basaltic magma is very fluid, easily comes to the surface, spreads in wide streams and quickly solidifies. Sometimes it bursts out of the mouth of a volcano in a bright "fiery fountain" - this happens when the earth's crust cannot withstand its pressure.
Other types of magma are much thicker: their density, or consistency, is more like molasses. The gases contained in such magma with great difficulty penetrate the surface through its dense mass. Remember how easily air bubbles break out of boiling water and how much more slowly it happens when you heat something thicker, such as jelly. As denser magma rises closer to the surface, the pressure on it decreases. The gases dissolved in it tend to expand, but cannot. When the magma finally bursts out, the gases expand so rapidly that a grandiose explosion occurs. Lava, rock fragments and ash scatter in all directions like projectiles fired from a cannon. A similar eruption happened in 1902 on the island of Martinique in the Caribbean. The catastrophic eruption of the Moptap-Pele volcano completely destroyed the port of Sep-Pierre. About 30,000 people died.

Crystal formation.

Rocks formed from cooling lava are called volcanic or igneous rocks. As the lava cools, the minerals contained in the molten rocks gradually turn into solid crystals. If the lava cools quickly, the crystals do not have time to grow and remain very small. A similar thing happens when basalt is formed. Sometimes the lava cools so quickly that it turns into a smooth glassy rock containing no crystals at all, such as obsidian (volcanic glass). This usually happens during an underwater eruption or when small particles of lava are ejected from the vent of a volcano high into the cold air.

Erosion and weathering of rocks in the Cedar Breaks Canyons, Utah, USA. These canyons were formed as a result of the erosive action of the river, which made its channel through the layers of sedimentary rocks, "squeezed out" upward by the movements of the earth's crust. The exposed mountain slopes were gradually weathered, and rock fragments formed screes on them. In the midst of these screes, protrusions of still solid rocks stick out, which form the edges of the canyons.

Evidence of the past.

The size of the crystals contained in volcanic rocks allows us to judge how quickly the lava cooled and at what distance from the Earth's surface it lay. Before you is a piece of granite, as it looks in polarized light under a microscope. Different crystals have different colors in this image.

Gneiss is a metamorphic rock formed from sedimentary rock under the influence of heat and pressure. The pattern of multi-colored stripes that you see on this piece of gneiss allows you to determine the direction in which the earth's crust, moving, pressed against the rock layers. So we get an idea of ​​the events that took place 3.5 billion years ago.
From the folds and faults (ruptures) in the rocks, we can judge in which direction the colossal stresses in the earth's crust acted in bygone geological epochs. These folds arose as a result of mountain-forming movements of the earth's crust that began 26 million years ago. In these places, monstrous forces squeezed layers of sedimentary rocks - and folds formed.
Magma does not always reach the Earth's surface. It can linger in the lower layers of the earth's crust and then cools much more slowly, forming delicious large crystals. This is how granite is made. The size of the crystals in some pebbles allows us to establish how this rock was formed many millions of years ago.

Hooduz, Alberta, Canada. Rains and sandstorms destroy soft rocks faster than hard ones, and as a result, remnants (protrusions) with bizarre outlines appear.

Sedimentary "sandwiches".

Not all rocks are volcanic like granite or basalt. Many of them consist of many layers and look like a huge stack of sandwiches. They were once formed from other rocks destroyed by wind, rains and rivers, the fragments of which were washed away into lakes or seas, and they settled on the bottom under the water column. Gradually such precipitation accumulates great amount. They pile up on top of each other, forming layers hundreds and even thousands of meters thick. The water of a lake or sea presses on these deposits with tremendous force. The water inside them is squeezed out, and they are compressed into a dense mass. At the same time, mineral substances, previously dissolved in the squeezed out water, seem to cement this entire mass, and as a result, a new rock is formed from it, which is called sedimentary.
Both volcanic and sedimentary rocks can, under the influence of movements of the earth's crust, be pushed upward, forming new mountain systems. Mountains are involved in the formation colossal forces. Under their influence, rocks either heat up very much or monstrously shrink. At the same time, they are transformed - transformed: one mineral can turn into another, the crystals are flattened and take on a different arrangement. As a result, in place of one rock, another appears. Rocks formed during the transformation of other rocks under the influence of the above-mentioned forces are called metamorphic.

Nothing lasts forever, not even mountains.

At first glance, nothing can be stronger and more durable than a huge mountain. Alas, this is just an illusion. Based on the geologic time scale, which counts for millions and even hundreds of millions of years, mountains are just as transient as everything else, including you and me.
Any rock, as soon as it begins to be exposed to the atmosphere, will instantly collapse. If you look at a fresh piece of rock or a split pebble, you will see that the newly formed surface of the rock is often a completely different color than the old one that has been in the air for a long time. This is due to the effect of atmospheric oxygen and, in many cases, rainwater. Because of them, various chemical reactions occur on the surface of the rock, gradually changing its properties.
Over time, these reactions release the minerals that hold the rock together, and it begins to crumble. Tiny cracks form in the rock, into which water penetrates. Freezing, this water expands and breaks the rock from the inside. When the ice melts, such a rock will simply fall apart into pieces. Very soon, the fallen off pieces of rock will be washed away by the rains. This process is called erosion.

Muir Glacier in Alaska. The destructive effect of the glacier and the stones that have frozen into it from below and from the sides gradually causes erosion of the walls and bottom of the valley along which it moves. As a result, long strips of rock fragments are formed on the ice - the so-called moraines. At the confluence of two neighboring glaciers, their moraines are also connected.

Water destroyer.

Pieces of broken rock end up in rivers. The current drags them along the river bed and wears them down the rock that forms the channel itself, until the surviving fragments finally find a quiet haven at the bottom of the lake or sea. Frozen water (ice) has even more destructive force. Glaciers and ice sheets drag behind them many large and small fragments of rocks frozen into their ice sides and belly. These fragments make deep furrows in the rocks along which glaciers move. The glacier can carry rock fragments that have fallen on top of it for many hundreds of kilometers.

Sculptures created by the wind

Wind also destroys rocks. Especially often this happens in deserts, where the wind carries millions of tiny grains of sand. The grains of sand are mostly composed of quartz, an extremely durable mineral. A whirlwind of grains of sand hits the rocks, knocking out more and more grains of sand from them.
Often the wind piles sand into large sandy hills, or dunes. Each gust of wind coats the dunes with a new layer of grains of sand. The location of the slopes and the steepness of these sandy hills make it possible to judge the direction and strength of the wind that created them.

Glaciers carve deep U-shaped valleys on their way. In Nantfrancon, Wales, the glaciers have disappeared since prehistoric times, leaving behind a wide valley, which is clearly large for a small river that flows through it today. The small lake in the foreground is blocked off by a strip of particularly strong rock.

Planet Earth is the only famous place where life has been found so far, I say so far because perhaps in the future people will discover another planet or satellite with intelligent life living there, but for now the Earth is the only place where there is life. Life on our planet is very diverse, from microscopic organisms to huge animals, plants and more. And people have always had a question - How and where did our planet come from? There are many hypotheses. The hypotheses of the origin of the Earth are radically different from each other, and some of them are very hard to believe.

This is a very difficult question. It is impossible to look into the past and see how it all began and how it all began to emerge. The first hypotheses of the origin of the planet Earth began to appear in the 17th century, when people had already accumulated a sufficient amount of knowledge about space, our planet and the solar system itself. Now we adhere to two possible hypotheses of the origin of the Earth: Scientific - the Earth was formed from dust and gases. Then the earth was dangerous place for life after years evolution, the surface of the planet Earth has become suitable for our life: the atmosphere of the Earth, suitable for breathing, a solid surface, and much more. And Religious - God created the Earth in 7 days and settled here all the variety of animals and plants. But at that time, knowledge was not enough to weed out all other hypotheses, and then there were much more of them:

• Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon. (1707–1788)

He made an assumption that no one would believe now. He suggested that the Earth could be formed from a piece of the Sun, which was torn off by some comet that hit our star.

But this theory has been debunked. Edmund Halley, an English astronomer, noticed that the same comet visits our solar system at intervals of several decades. Halley even managed to predict the next appearance of a comet. He also established that the comet changes its orbit a little each time, which means it does not have a significant mass to tear off a “piece” from the Sun.

• Immanuel Kant. (1724–1804)

Our Earth and the entire solar system were formed from a cold and shrinking dust cloud. Kant wrote an anonymous book where he described his hypotheses of the origin of the planet, but it did not attract the attention of scientists. Scientists by this time were considering a more popular hypothesis put forward by Pierre Laplace, a French mathematician.

• Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749–1827)

Laplace suggested that the solar system was formed from a constantly rotating gas cloud heated to an enormous temperature. This theory is very similar to current scientific theory.

• James Jeans (1877–1946)

Some cosmic body, namely the star, passed too close to our Sun. The solar attraction tore some mass out of this star, forming a sleeve of hot substance, which eventually formed all of our 9 planets. Jeans talked about his hypothesis so convincingly that in a short time it won the minds of people and they believed that this was the only possible occurrence of the planet.

So, we examined the most famous hypotheses of occurrence, they were very unusual and varied. In our time, such people would not even be listened to, because we now have much more knowledge about our solar system and about the Earth than man knew then. Therefore, the hypotheses of the origin of the Earth were based only on the imagination of scientists. Now we can observe and conduct various studies and experiments, but this has not given us a definitive answer about how and from what exactly our planet arose.

How was the Earth born?

There are several theories of the origin of our planet at once, each of which has its supporters and its right to life. Of course, it is impossible to determine exactly which of the theories actually describes the appearance of the Earth and whether such a theory exists at all, but in this article we will consider each of them in detail. The question of the origin of the Earth is still not fully understood and does not have an absolutely accurate answer.

Modern idea of ​​the origin of the planet Earth

To date, the most recognized theory of the origin of the planet Earth is the theory according to which the Earth was formed from the gas and dust matter scattered in the solar system.

According to this theory, the Sun appeared before the planets, and the Earth, like other planets in the solar system, was born from the debris, gas and dust left after the formation of the Sun. Thus, it is believed that the Earth was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, and the process of its formation took approximately 10 - 20 million years.

History of the development of the theory

The first to put forward this theory in 1755 German philosopher I. Kant. He believed that the Sun and the planets of the solar system originated from dust and gas that was dispersed in space. Dust and gas particles under the influence shock wave from big bang randomly moved, collided with each other, transferring energy. Thus, the heaviest and largest particles were formed, which were attracted to each other and eventually formed the Sun. After the sun took big size, smaller particles began to rotate around it, the paths of movement of which intersected. Thus, gaseous rings were formed, in which light particles were attracted to more heavy nuclei, creating globular clusters, which became the future planets.

There are other theories about the origin of the Earth, which in different time were put forward by various scientists and even had their followers in the future.

Tidal theory of the origin of the Earth

According to this theory, the Sun appeared much earlier than the planets, and the Earth and other planets of the solar system were formed from substances released by the Sun or another large star.

History of the development of the theory

The history of this theory began in 1776, when the mathematician J. Buffon put forward the theory of the collision of the sun with a comet. As a result of this collision, the material from which both the planet Earth and other planets were born was released.

This theory found its follower in the 20th century. It was then that the scientist astrophysicist I.I. Wulfson, using computer calculations, showed that a star does not have to collide with the Sun in order to detach material. According to his theory, any large and cold star from a new cluster of stars could approach the Sun at a small distance and thereby cause giant tides both on its surface and on the Sun. The amplitude of these tides increases until the material breaks away from the Sun or an approaching star and takes place between these stellar bodies in the form of a cigar-shaped jet. Then the cold star leaves, and the emerging jet scatters into the planets of the solar system.

How the Earth was born according to the "nebular theory"

The creator of the first nebular theory was the French astronomer and mathematician P.-S. Laplace. He believed that there was some kind of gas disk rotating from compression; the speed of its rotation increased until the centrifugal force at its edge began to exceed the gravitational force of attraction. After that, the disk was torn, and after a while this process was repeated. Thus, the rings turned into planets, and the central mass into the Sun.

This theory explains well the fact that the Earth and the Sun rotate in the same plane and in the same direction, but it also has significant gaps.

According to this theory, the Sun must rotate very quickly (with a rotation period of several hours). However, in reality, the Sun rotates much more slowly - 1 revolution in 27 days. Another shortcoming of the theory is the mechanism for collecting particles into planets. The theory does not answer the question of why the substances after the rupture of the disk were divided into rings, and did not take the form of the same disk, but smaller.

This is where we end the story about the origin of planet Earth and recommend that you read about.

The question of the origin of the Earth, planets and the solar system as a whole has worried people since ancient times. Myths about the origin of the Earth can be traced among many ancient peoples. The Chinese, Egyptians, Sumerians, Greeks had their own idea of ​​the formation of the world. At the beginning of our era, their naive ideas were replaced by religious dogmas that did not tolerate objections. AT medieval Europe attempts to search for the truth sometimes ended in the fire of the Inquisition. First scientific explanations The problems are related only to the 18th century. Not even now single hypothesis origin of the Earth, which gives room for new discoveries and food for an inquisitive mind.

Mythology of the ancients

Man is an inquisitive being. Since ancient times, people differed from animals not only in their desire to survive in the harsh wild world, but also in an attempt to understand it. Recognizing the total superiority of the forces of nature over themselves, people began to deify the ongoing processes. Most often, it is the celestials who are credited with the merit of creating the world.

Myths about the origin of the Earth in different parts of the world differed significantly from each other. According to the ideas of the ancient Egyptians, she hatched from a sacred egg molded by the god Khnum from ordinary clay. According to the beliefs of the island peoples, the gods fished the earth out of the ocean.

Chaos theory

Closest to scientific theory came the ancient Greeks. According to their concepts, the birth of the Earth came from the original Chaos, filled with a mixture of water, earth, fire and air. This fits in with the scientific postulates of the theory of the origin of the Earth. Dangerous mix elements rotated randomly, filling everything that exists. But at some point, from the bowels of the original Chaos, the Earth was born - the goddess Gaia, and her eternal companion, Heaven, the god Uranus. Together they filled the lifeless spaces with a variety of life.

A similar myth has formed in China. Chaos Hun-tun, filled with five elements - wood, metal, earth, fire and water - circled in the form of an egg through the boundless universe, until the god Pan-Gu was born in it. When he woke up, he found around him only a lifeless darkness. And this fact saddened him greatly. Gathering his strength, the Pan-Gu deity broke the shell of the chaos egg, releasing two principles: Yin and Yang. Heavy Yin descended to form the earth, light and light Yang soared up to form the sky.

Class theory of the formation of the Earth

The origin of the planets, and in particular the Earth, has been sufficiently studied by modern scientists. But there are a number of fundamental questions (for example, where did the water come from) that cause heated debate. Therefore, the science of the Universe is developing, each new discovery becomes a brick in the foundation of the hypothesis of the origin of the Earth.

The famous Soviet scientist, better known for polar research, grouped all the proposed hypotheses and combined them into three classes. The first includes theories based on the postulate of the formation of the Sun, planets, moons and comets from a single material (nebula). These are the well-known hypotheses of Voitkevich, Laplace, Kant, Fesenkov, recently revised by Rudnik, Sobotovich and other scientists.

The second class combines ideas according to which the planets were formed directly from the substance of the Sun. These are the hypotheses of the origin of the Earth by scientists Jeans, Jeffreys, Multon and Chamberlin, Buffon and others.

And finally, the third class includes theories that do not unite the Sun and the planets by a common origin. The best known is Schmidt's conjecture. Let's take a look at the characteristics of each class.

Kant's hypothesis

In 1755, the German philosopher Kant briefly described the origin of the Earth as follows: the original universe consisted of motionless dust particles different density. The forces of gravity led them to move. They sticked to each other (the effect of accretion), which ultimately led to the formation of a central hot bunch - the Sun. Further collisions of particles led to the rotation of the Sun, and with it the dust cloud.

In the latter, separate clots of matter gradually formed - the embryos of future planets, around which satellites were formed according to a similar scheme. The Earth formed in this way at the beginning of its existence seemed cold.

Laplace's concept

The French astronomer and mathematician P. Laplace proposed a slightly different version explaining the origin of the planet Earth and other planets. The solar system, in his opinion, was formed from a hot gas nebula with a bunch of particles in the center. She rotated and contracted under the action gravity. With further cooling, the speed of rotation of the nebula grew, along the periphery, rings peeled off from it, which disintegrated into prototypes of future planets. Latest on initial stage were hot gas balls that gradually cooled and solidified.

Lack of Hypotheses of Kant and Laplace

The hypotheses of Kant and Laplace, explaining the origin of the planet Earth, were dominant in cosmogony until the beginning of the 20th century. And played progressive role, serving as the basis natural sciences especially geology. The main drawback of the hypothesis is the inability to explain the distribution of angular momentum (MKR) within the solar system.

The MKR is defined as the product of body mass times the distance from the center of the system and the speed of its rotation. Indeed, based on the fact that the Sun has more than 90% of the total mass of the system, it must also have a high MCR. In fact, the Sun has only 2% of the total ICR, while the planets, especially the giants, are endowed with the remaining 98%.

Fesenkov's theory

In 1960, the Soviet scientist Fesenkov tried to explain this contradiction. According to his version of the origin of the Earth, the Sun and planets were formed as a result of the compaction of a giant nebula - "globules". The nebula had very rarefied matter, composed mainly of hydrogen, helium and a small amount of heavy elements. Under the influence of gravitational force in the central part of the globule, a star-shaped condensation appeared - the Sun. It was spinning fast. As a result of the substance, matter was emitted from time to time into the gas-dust environment surrounding it. This led to the loss of its mass by the Sun and the transfer of a significant part of the ISS to the created planets. The formation of the planets took place by means of accretion of nebular matter.

Theories of Multon and Chamberlin

The American researchers, astronomer Multon and geologist Chamberlin, proposed similar hypotheses of the origin of the Earth and the solar system, according to which the planets were formed from the substance of the gas branches of spirals, "stretched" from the Sun by an unknown star, which passed for quite a long time. close range From him.

Scientists introduced the concept of "planetesimal" into cosmogony - these are clots condensed from gases original substance, which became the embryos of planets and asteroids.

Jeans' judgments

The English astrophysicist D. Jeans (1919) suggested that when another star approached the Sun, a cigar-shaped protrusion broke off from the latter, which later disintegrated into separate clumps. Moreover, from the middle thickened part of the "cigar" formed major planets, and on its edges - small.

Schmidt's hypothesis

In questions of the theory of the origin of the Earth, an original point of view was expressed in 1944 by Schmidt. This is the so-called meteorite hypothesis, subsequently physical and mathematically justified by the students of the famous scientist. By the way, the problem of the formation of the Sun is not considered in the hypothesis.

According to the theory, the Sun at one of the stages of its development captured (attracted to itself) a cold gas-dust meteorite cloud. Prior to that, it owned a very small MKR, while the cloud rotated at a significant speed. AT strong sun the differentiation of the meteorite cloud in terms of mass, density and size began. Part of the meteorite material hit the star, the other, as a result of accretion processes, formed clots-embryos of the planets and their satellites.

In this hypothesis, the origin and development of the Earth is dependent on the influence of the "solar wind" - pressure solar radiation, which pushed light gaseous components to the periphery of the solar system. The earth thus formed was a cold body. Further heating is associated with radiogenic heat, gravitational differentiation and other sources. internal energy planets. Researchers consider the very low probability of capturing such a meteorite cloud by the Sun as a big drawback of the hypothesis.

Assumptions by Rudnik and Sobotovich

The history of the origin of the Earth is still of concern to scientists. Relatively recently (in 1984) V. Rudnik and E. Sobotovich presented own version origin of the planets and the sun. According to their ideas, processes in a gas-dust nebula could be initiated by a nearby explosion supernova. Further events, according to the researchers, looked like this:

1. Under the action of the explosion, the compression of the nebula began and the formation of a central bunch - the Sun.
2. From the forming Sun, RTOs were transmitted to the planets by electromagnetic or turbulent-convective means.
3. Began to form giant rings resembling the rings of Saturn.
4. As a result of accretion of the material of the rings, planetesimals first appeared, subsequently formed into modern planets.

The whole evolution took place very quickly - for about 600 million years.

Formation of the composition of the Earth

Exist different understanding formation sequences internal parts our planet. According to one of them, the proto-Earth was an unsorted conglomerate of iron-silicate matter. Subsequently, as a result of gravity, a division into an iron core and a silicate mantle occurred - the phenomenon of homogeneous accretion. Proponents of heterogeneous accretion believe that a refractory iron core accumulated first, then more fusible silicate particles adhered to it.

Depending on the solution of this issue, we can also talk about the degree of the initial heating of the Earth. Indeed, immediately after its formation, the planet began to warm up due to the combined action of several factors:

• The bombardment of its surface by planetesimals, which was accompanied by the release of heat.
• isotopes, including short-lived isotopes of aluminum, iodine, plutonium, etc.
• Gravitational differentiation of interiors (assuming homogeneous accretion).

According to a number of researchers, at this early stage of the formation of the planet, the outer parts could be in a state close to a melt. In the photo, the planet Earth would look like a hot ball.

Contractual theory of the formation of continents

One of the first hypotheses of the origin of the continents was the contraction hypothesis, according to which mountain building was associated with the cooling of the Earth and the reduction of its radius. It was she who served as the foundation of the early geological research. On its basis, the Austrian geologist E. Suess synthesized all the knowledge that existed at that time about the structure of the earth's crust in the monograph "The Face of the Earth". But already at the end of the XIX century. data appeared showing that compression occurs in one part of the earth's crust, and tension occurs in the other. The contraction theory finally collapsed after the discovery of radioactivity and the presence in the Earth's crust large stocks radioactive elements.

Continental drift

At the beginning of the twentieth century. the hypothesis of continental drift is born. Scientists have long noticed the similarity coastlines South America and and Arabian Peninsula, Africa and Hindustan, etc. The first to compare the data was Pilligrini (1858), later Bikhanov. The very idea of ​​continental drift was formulated by the American geologists Taylor and Baker (1910) and the German meteorologist and geophysicist Wegener (1912). The latter substantiated this hypothesis in his monograph "The Origin of Continents and Oceans", which was published in 1915. Arguments given in support of this hypothesis:

• The similarity of the outlines of the continents on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the continents bordering the Indian Ocean.
• Similarity of structure on adjacent continents of Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic rocks.
• Fossilized remains of animals and plants, which indicate that the ancient flora and fauna southern continents formed a single group: this is especially evidenced by the fossilized remains of dinosaurs of the genus Listrosaurus, found in Africa, India and Antarctica.
• Paleoclimatic data: for example, the presence of traces of the Late Paleozoic ice sheet.

Formation of the earth's crust

The origin and development of the Earth is inextricably linked with mountain building. A. Wegener argued that the continents, consisting of fairly light mineral masses, seem to float on the underlying heavy plastic substance of the basalt bed. It is assumed that initially a thin layer of granite material allegedly covered the entire Earth. Gradually, its integrity was broken by the tidal forces of attraction of the Moon and the Sun, acting on the surface of the planet from east to west, as well as by centrifugal forces from the rotation of the Earth, acting from the poles to the equator.

Granite (presumably) consisted of a single supercontinent Pangea. It lasted until the middle and broke up in the Jurassic period. A supporter of this hypothesis of the origin of the Earth was the scientist Staub. Then there was the unification of the continents northern hemisphere- Laurasia, and the union of the continents of the southern hemisphere - Gondwana. Between them were the rocks of the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Under the continents lay a sea of ​​magma along which they moved. Laurasia and Gondwana moved rhythmically either to the equator or to the poles. As the supercontinents moved toward the equator, they contracted frontally, while their flanks pressed against the Pacific mass. These geological processes are considered by many to be the main factors in the formation of large mountain ranges. Movement to the equator occurred three times: during the Caledonian, Hercynian and Alpine orogeny.

Conclusion

A lot of popular science literature, children's books, and specialized publications have been published on the topic of the formation of the solar system. Origin of the Earth for kids accessible form set out in school textbooks. But if we take the literature of 50 years ago, it is clear that modern scientists look at some problems in a different way. Cosmology, geology and related sciences do not stand still. Thanks to the conquest of near-Earth space, people already know how the planet Earth is seen in the photo from space. New knowledge forms a new idea of ​​the laws of the Universe.

It is obvious that the mighty forces of nature were used to create the Earth, planets and the Sun from the primordial chaos. It is not surprising that the ancient ancestors compared them with the accomplishments of the Gods. Even figuratively it is impossible to imagine the origin of the Earth, pictures of reality would surely surpass the most daring fantasies. But by bits of knowledge collected by scientists, a complete picture of the surrounding world is gradually being built.

This is very complex issue. And it is hardly possible to give an exhaustive answer to it. At least for the time being. The Earth itself keeps its past, and there is no one to tell about this past - it was so long ago.

Scientists are slowly "questioning" the Earth through the study of radioactive rocks and get some answers. But after all, the known past of the Earth is not final, but goes into an even more distant past - what was before its solidification? Scientists compare planets to each other in their state of the art and try to judge by them the evolution of the Earth. Knowledge of the world is a long and not so easy process.
There are many hypotheses about the origin of the Earth and other planets, we will consider some of them separately on our website.
Modern hypotheses about the origin of the solar system must take into account not only mechanical characteristics the solar system, but also take into account numerous physical data on the structure of the planets and the sun.
In the field of cosmogony, a stubborn ideological struggle has constantly been and is being waged, since here the worldview of scientists is sharply affected. Creationists, for example, believe the earth is no more than 10,000 years old, while evolutionists measure the age of the earth in billions of years.

Thus, there is still no hypothesis that answers all questions about the origin of the Earth and other planets of the solar system. But scientists are increasingly agreeing that the Sun and the planets were formed simultaneously (or almost simultaneously) from a single material environment, from a single gas and dust cloud.
There are the following hypotheses about the origin of the planets of the solar system (including the Earth): the hypothesis of Laplace, Kant, Schmidt, Buffon, Hoyle, etc.

Basic modern scientific theory

The emergence of the solar system began with the gravitational compression of a gas and dust cloud, in the center of which the most massive body, the Sun, was formed. The material of the protoplanetary disk gathered into small planetesimals, which collided with each other and formed planets. Some of the planetesimals were ejected from interior areas into the Kuiper Belt and into the Oort cloud.
Kuiper belt- the region of the solar system from the orbit of Neptune to a distance of about 55 a. e. from the Sun. Although the Kuiper Belt is similar to the asteroid belt, it is about 20 times wider and more massive than the latter. Like the asteroid belt, it is made up mostly of small bodies, that is, material left over from the formation of the solar system. Unlike asteroid belt objects, which are primarily composed of rocks and metals, Kuiper belt objects are primarily composed of volatile substances (called ices) such as methane, ammonia, and water. This region of near space contains at least three dwarf planets: Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. It is believed that some satellites of the planets of the solar system (Neptune's satellite - Triton and Saturn's satellite - Phoebe) also arose in this area.
Oort cloud- a hypothetical spherical region of the solar system, which serves as a source of long-period comets. Instrumentally, the existence of the Oort cloud has not been confirmed, but many indirect facts point to its existence.
The Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago from the solar nebula. Volcanic degassing created primary atmosphere on earth was created by volcanic activity, but it had almost no oxygen, it would be toxic and not habitable. Most of The earth was molten due to active volcanism and frequent collisions with other space objects. One of these major impacts is believed to have tilted the earth's axis and formed the moon. Over time, such cosmic bombardments ceased, allowing the planet to cool and form a solid crust. The water delivered to the planet by comets and asteroids condensed into clouds and oceans. The earth finally became hospitable for life, and its earliest forms enriched the atmosphere with oxygen. For at least the first billion years, life on Earth was small and microscopic. Well, the process of evolution went on.
As we said earlier, there is no consensus on this matter. Therefore, hypotheses about the origin of the Earth and other planets of the solar system continue to arise, while there are old ones.

J. Buffon's hypothesis

Not all scientists agreed with the evolutionary scenario for the origin of the planets. Back in the 18th century, the French naturalist Georges Buffon expressed a hypothesis supported and developed by American physicists Chamberlain and Multon. The hypothesis is as follows: once another star flew in the vicinity of the Sun. Its attraction caused a huge tidal wave on the Sun, stretching out in space for hundreds of millions of kilometers. Having broken away, this wave began to twist around the Sun and break up into clots, each of which formed its own planet.

F. Hoyle's hypothesis

Another hypothesis was proposed by the English astrophysicist Fred Hoyle in the 20th century: the Sun had a twin star that exploded. Most of the fragments were carried away into outer space, the smaller part remained in the orbit of the Sun and formed planets.

Creation theory

Creationism- theological and worldview concept, according to which the main forms organic world(life), humanity, the planet Earth, and the world as a whole, are seen as directly created by the Creator, or God. The term "creationism" has become popular since about the end of 19th century, meaning concepts that recognize the truth of what is stated in Old Testament history of the creation of the world. It should be noted that there are several directions in the theory of creationism itself, but, for example, the Templeton Prize-winning geneticist, evolutionist and former Dominican Catholic priest Francisco Ayala believes that there are no significant contradictions between Christianity and evolutionary theory, and evolutionary theory, on the contrary, helps to explain both the perfection of the world created by God and the cause of evil in the world.

Protodeacon A. Kuraev in the book “Orthodoxy and Evolution” he writes: “Those are naive who vaguely think that God becomes unnecessary if we stretch out the process of creation. Just as naive are those who believe that the creation of the world over a period of more than six days diminishes the greatness of the Creator. It is only important for us to remember that nothing interfered, did not limit creative action. Everything happened according to the will of the Creator. And whether this will was to create the world instantly, or in six days, or in six thousand years, or in a myriad of centuries, we do not know.