How old is earth?

Question

Its for my home work and alsowhy?
Do you think has always looked like it has now?why?
What are forces of erosion that are wearing awayat Earth?Why doesnt eart erode all the way?

Answer 1

From a scientific standpoint, the earth is believed to be approximately 4.6 billion years old. This is based on radiometric dating of asteroids that are believed to have formed at the same time as the rest of our solar system. There are meteors that have produces older dates, but those are believed to have formed outside of the solar system.

No the earth hasn't always looked this way. The earth has and is constantly changing. the continents are moving around and occasionally crashing into each other, this is why we have mountains in some areas. Sometimes a rift forms were the earths crust is ripped apart. this is how oceans form. Take a world map and notice how South America and Africa would fit together if the Atlantic ocean wasn't between them. This is called plate tectonics.

The forces of erosion are:

*wind erosion - the wind blowing sand acts like sand blasting or sand paper

*water erosion - streams and rivers carry sediments to the ocean and the ocean tides and surf erode the coastlines.

*temperature changes - particularly freezing, water expands when it freezes and can widen cracks in rocks and make them fall apart. This is really weathering, but it contributes to erosion.

*chemical erosion - some minerals desolve when they are exposed to water. This is really weathering, but it contributes to erosion.

*and finally Gravity - gravity works with the all of the above to try to reach a state of equilibrium. this means that it is trying to move every thin that is above sea level to sea level.

The reason that it dosent erode all of the land away is that our planet is still active. New mountains are forming as the old ones are removed. Mt everest is increasing in height by about a centimeter a year because India is crashing into Asia. Volcanoes are erupting in some parts of the world creating higher mountains and new land in the case of Hawaii.

These are just some of the examples and there are many more.

Hope this Helps.


P.S. I have seen the so called Dinosaur/Human footprints firsthand, and they are baloney. I'm not saying the we have every thing right, But the point of science is to continue to build a better understanding about our world and universe and build on the knowledge, not try to disprove theories just because the don't fit our preconceved notion of what is right.

Answer 2

Given the fact that, according to the Bible, Adam was created on the sixth day of our planet’s existence, we can determine a biblically based, approximate age for the earth by looking at the chronological details of the human race. This assumes that the Genesis account is accurate, that the six days of creation were literal 24-hour periods, and that there were no ambiguous gaps in the chronology of Genesis.

The genealogies listed in Genesis chapters 5 and 11 provide the age at which Adam and his descendants each fathered the next generation in a successive ancestral line from Adam to Abraham. By determining where Abraham fits into history chronologically and adding up the ages provided in Genesis 5 and 11, it becomes apparent that the Bible teaches the earth to be about 6000 years old, give or take a few hundred years.

What about the billions of years accepted by most scientists today and taught in the vast majority of our academic institutions? This age is primarily derived from two dating techniques: radiometric dating and the geologic timescale. Scientists who advocate the younger age of about 6000 years insist that radiometric dating is flawed in that it is founded upon a series of faulty assumptions, while the geologic timescale is flawed in that it employs circular reasoning. Moreover, they point to the debunking of old-earth myths, like the popular misconception that it takes long periods of time for stratification, fossilization and the formation of diamonds, coal, oil, stalactites, stalagmites, etc, to occur. Finally, young-earth advocates present positive evidence for a young age for the earth in place of the old-earth evidences which they debunk. Young-earth scientists acknowledge that they are in the minority today but insist that their ranks will swell over time as more and more scientists reexamine the evidence and take a closer look at the currently accepted old-earth paradigm.

Ultimately, the age of the earth cannot be proven. Whether 6000 years or billions of years, both viewpoints (and everything in between) rest on faith and assumptions. Those who hold to billions of years trust that methods such as radiometric dating are reliable and that nothing has occurred in history that may have disrupted the normal decay of radio-isotopes. Those who hold to 6000 years trust that the Bible is true and that other factors explain the “apparent” age of the earth, such as the global flood, or God’s creating the universe in a state that “appears” to give it a very long age. As an example, God created Adam and Eve as fully-grown adult human beings. If a doctor had examined Adam and Eve on the day of their creation, the doctor would have estimated their age at 20 years (or whatever age they appeared to be) when, in fact, Adam and Eve were less than one day old. Whatever the case, there is always good reason to trust the Word of God over the words of atheistic scientists with an evolutionary agenda.

http://www.gotquestions.org/earth-age.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk1vJ7BN0Xw

Answer 3

It is an established, scientific fact that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. While I respect creationists who think otherwise, some of them would have you believe that science is little more than conjecture and speculation. The brightest scientific minds in the world agree that the evidence that Earth is 4.5 billion years old is incontrovertible, and no reputable scientist believes that this is a "lie".

Answer 4

Canadian_Bacon: Evolution has nothing to do with the age Earth. Evolution is biological and deals with the evolution of life from 3.8 billion years ago on. Earth is much older than that.

Earth is about 4.55 byo. We have determined this using uranium and lead isotopes found in meteorites thought to be as old as Earth and also in some of the oldest rocks on Earth.

Earth has not always looked as it does today. The continents have moved (and are moving) and the amount of life on the planet has varied dramatically.

Answer 5

Depends on what you believe...are you a Creationist (God or a Supreme Being created everything) or an Evolutionist (everything evolved and just kind of fell into place).

Creationists believe the Earth isn't much more than 4-6 thousand years or so where as Evolutionists believe it is billions of years.

Answer 6

It does NOT depend on what you believe. The earth is as old as it is...no matter what your belief is.

It IS 4.6 billion years old.

Answer 7

There are still SOME evolutionists who are willing to be honest with the evidence...

For example:

**"The intelligent layman has long suspected circular reasoning in the use of rocks to date fossils and fossils to date rocks. The geologist has never bothered to think of a good reply"
(J. O'Rourke in the American Journal of Science).

Evolution only makes 'sense' if you choose to ignore all the scientific evidence that show that it could never have occured.

This may interest you...
: Dinosaur and human footprints found TOGETHER......http://www.bible.ca/tracks/tracks.htm

Answer 8

THE EARTH IS ABOUT 4.6 BILLION YEARS OLD .THIS IS DETERMINED BY RADIOACTIVE DATING OF ZIRCOM CRYSTALS USING THORIUM