how was the earth made? – Nitrogen Zone

Question: how was the earth made?

Asked by keeble to Donna, Jo, Mark, Stuart, timcraggs on 23 Jun 2010 in Categories: General. This question was also asked by youngtuggzy.
- Donna MacCallum answered on 14 Jun 2010:
  
  That’s a really good, but massive, question! There seems to be alot of theories out there (including religious ones) – but I’m not sure which one is correct!
- Joanna Buckley answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  Hiya keeble!
  
  Oooh good question and not one that there’s an easy answer to in my opinion.
  
  After the Big Bang, things cooled down enough for atoms to form. Hydrogen and helium formed thin clouds in space and collapsed under their own weight to form stars. These stars were big, but there were no planets, since the chemical elements that make up rocks did not exist. Inside a star, the hydrogen reacts with itself to form heavier elements.
  
  After just a few million years, these huge stars exploded and spewed out millions of tons of hydrogen which got converted to heavier elements. That’s how the earth way formed, in a nutshell 🙂
- Mark Lancaster answered on 21 Jun 2010:
  
  From the dust and gas left over from when the sun was formed – this over millions of years clumped together to form the solar systems planets.
- Tim Craggs answered on 23 Jun 2010:
  
  Hey Keeble, I am afraid I’m not sure of the answer to this one. But I think that the solar system came into being around 4.5 billion years ago, and big clouds of gas gradually swirled together until they made enough gravity to attract other gasses and dust, thus forming the planets. But I am sure Mark will tell us!

Question: how was the earth made?

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