2007-11-19 12:32:46 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Environment ➔ Global Warming
3:30 last Wednesday (GMT)
2007-11-19 12:37:02 · answer #1 · answered by Gregor 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The planet as a whole consists of multiple facets. For example, there's the seas and oceans, the plants, the animals, the climate, the Earth itself etc. Each is independent but often dependent on the others.
Each is constantly changing, these changes have knock-on effects, the combined effect is a complex one. For example, remove one seemingly useless species of insect and it affects the entire food chain, that can affect the fauna and flora, which can affect the land itself leading to changes in the oceans etc. You may have heard of the 'butterfly effect' - one small change can lead to something much bigger and seemingly unrelated.
This complex interaction means that the planet is constantly evolving, it has been ever since it came into being just over 4.5 billion years ago. Our time on Earth has been but a blink of an eye. Scale the age of the Earth down to a year and the average human lives for just haf a second. The changes witnessed in a lifetime are minute compared to those that the planet has witnessed throughout history. Undountedly there will be unimaginable changes in the future, maybe thousands, millions or even billions of years from now.
2007-11-19 21:58:59 · answer #2 · answered by Trevor 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Eh? Planets don't evolve, they just rocket around space a bit then get knocked off by passing meteor, spiral into their parent star, or die in the fiery explosion of a supernova. They haven't got any way to reproduce and thus pass on inheritable traits to their offspring, so natural selection has nothing to work with.
2007-11-19 21:04:31 · answer #3 · answered by SomeGuy 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you're speaking of Earth specifically, it has continued unabated and will until our sun dies...it will become a red giant, swallow the earth, then collapse on itself and become a white dwarf; we are talking another couple of billion years.
Luckily, we won't be around to see it but the fireworks will be amazing...
2007-11-19 20:42:29 · answer #4 · answered by thenightscribe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its still happening.
Consider that various diseases have been evolving to be more drug resistant.
Consider that the rate of poor vision is actually increasing because we are no longer "deselecting" due to bad eye-sight. That is, people don't die because with poor eye sight they fall over and get eaten by lions. (OK, this is arguably a bad thing...)
2007-11-19 20:35:48 · answer #5 · answered by Elana 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋