Thread: From a dead planet, to a live planet

Hi, this is my first of many questions.
When our planet was in its early stages, was there any vegatation before the grasses on land?? also how did the atmosphere get there as atmosphere needs plants and plants need water and atmosphere???so what was first??asthey all need each other...

As far as I know the water on earth came from lumps of ice in the rocks that fromed the planet, as the gravitational and impact forces heated the earth to molten this water would have become vapour, along with tons of CO2 from volcanic action - there were other gases present which would have formed a lethal mixture (to us), I gather that as the earth cooled some primitive lifeforms developed which could survive in this atmosphere but produced oxygen as a byproduct. this oxygen was readily taken up by iron, silicon, and many other elements. When pretty much all of this oxygen was used, surplus amounts (still produced by early lifeforms) was dispersed throughout the atmosphere and slowly over 100's of millions of yars built up. eventually life adapted to the changing atmosphere and, well, here we are.

Oh I almost forgot, a very warm welcome to the forum (on such a cool day in the south..).

Originally Posted by Megabrain

As far as I know the water on earth came from lumps of ice in the rocks that fromed the planet, as the gravitational and impact forces heated the earth to molten this water would have become vapour, along with tons of CO2 from volcanic action - there were other gases present which would have formed a lethal mixture (to us), I gather that as the earth cooled some primitive lifeforms developed which could survive in this atmosphere but produced oxygen as a byproduct. this oxygen was readily taken up by iron, silicon, and many other elements. When pretty much all of this oxygen was used, surplus amounts (still produced by early lifeforms) was dispersed throughout the atmosphere and slowly over 100's of millions of yars built up. eventually life adapted to the changing atmosphere and, well, here we are.

Yup, although ironically, Oxygen is actually a poison.

Originally Posted by leohopkins

Originally Posted by Megabrain

As far as I know the water on earth came from lumps of ice in the rocks that fromed the planet, as the gravitational and impact forces heated the earth to molten this water would have become vapour, along with tons of CO2 from volcanic action - there were other gases present which would have formed a lethal mixture (to us), I gather that as the earth cooled some primitive lifeforms developed which could survive in this atmosphere but produced oxygen as a byproduct. this oxygen was readily taken up by iron, silicon, and many other elements. When pretty much all of this oxygen was used, surplus amounts (still produced by early lifeforms) was dispersed throughout the atmosphere and slowly over 100's of millions of yars built up. eventually life adapted to the changing atmosphere and, well, here we are.

Yup, although ironically, Oxygen is actually a poison.

Well stay out of intensive care units then....

Well, erm, I had intended to. :wink:

Originally Posted by pretendersfan

Hi, this is my first of many questions.
When our planet was in its early stages, was there any vegatation before the grasses on land?? also how did the atmosphere get there as atmosphere needs plants and plants need water and atmosphere???so what was first??asthey all need each other...

in short, grass is reasonable a new plant life. about 65 million years ago, forms of grass or a single stem plant (probably from need) started spreading it roots and growing new stems. this is said to be instrumental in the beginning of the long legged mammal evolution.

no doubt plant life form in or on the oceans. maybe from a water level drop or seed like particles plants moved to land. early life, other than plants probably required little atmosphere as micro life is seen in rocks from 3.8 billion years ago. certainly plants did and still do not require oxygen to live. they do require, water, CO2 and if you want color a solar energy.

from here there are many theory, all depending on a creation or evolutionary viewpoint. genetically however plants do contain many of the same genes as even we do, as does all life; complex plant life from 20 to 30% of mankind's and up to the primates and particularly the Bonofo's with 98.6 of mans same genes...

Originally Posted by pretendersfan

Hi, this is my first of many questions.
When our planet was in its early stages, was there any vegatation before the grasses on land?? also how did the atmosphere get there as atmosphere needs plants and plants need water and atmosphere???so what was first??asthey all need each other...

Oh, and welcome to the forum, by the way !!

Thank you all for your kind welcome. I hope im not to much of a bore..
Was the rotation of the earth, instant..
By the way,Cornwall is warming after the last few days..

The earth's rotation would have basically started as it's mass increased - it's something I have a basic understanding of not enough to efficiently explain via short posts.

Ok.?????????

http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae201.cfm

Try that one, but it really depends upon the depth at which you wish to understand this, I think you'd need a good grasp of orbital mechanics to go much further, plus an understanding of conservation of motion, gravity and maths in general.

Thank you for that, I have bookmarked this site..