The Future of Earth: How Long Will It Last?

Oleh: Shichun Huang

EVERYTHING something that has a beginning must have an end. Earth will last for a very long time. The end point will come in the next billion years, after life on this planet is gone.

Also read: Why Does Hot Weather Make You Nauseous?

Before we talk about the future of Earth, let’s review its history. When did the first life appear on Earth. Human history is actually nothing compared to the history of Earth.

Four billion years

Our planet formed from a giant cloud of gas and dust called a nebula about 4.6 billion years ago. The first land masses may have formed on the surface 4.4 billion years ago.

Early Earth’s atmosphere didn’t contain oxygen, so it would have been toxic to humans if they existed then. This is very different from Earth’s atmosphere today, which contains about 21 percent oxygen.

Many life forms, including humans, require oxygen to live.

So where does oxygen come from? Scientists believe that the oxygen content in the atmosphere began to increase about 2.4 billion years ago in a change they call the “Great Oxidation Event”.

Tiny microorganisms have inhabited the Earth’s surface for a while. Some of them have the ability to generate energy from sunlight, as plants do today.

When they do, these ancient microorganisms release oxygen. Oxygen was then released into the atmosphere so that life could evolve into more complex forms.

Also read: The Earth Is Getting Hotter, Annual Temperatures Are Expected To Rise 1.5 Degrees Celsius

This evolution takes a very long time. The earliest living animals were sea sponges, likely appearing only around 660 million years ago.

Meanwhile, humans are predicted to appear in Africa around 200 thousand to 2 million years ago, (depending on how we define humans). From there, they spread everywhere.

There are still billions of years to go

When thinking about the future, we know there are two important factors humans need to live on Earth: the sun and environmental change.

First, the Sun provides most of the energy that Earth creatures need. Plants use sunlight to grow and produce oxygen.

Animals and humans, directly or indirectly depend on plants for food and oxygen.

Another thing that makes Earth habitable for life is that the surface of our planet is constantly moving and shifting.

This constantly changing surface environment produced weather patterns and chemical changes in the oceans and landmass that made life on Earth possible to evolve.

The movement of these giant pieces of the Earth’s outer layers, called plates, is driven by heat in the Earth’s interior, or bowels. This source will keep the bowels of the Earth hot for billions of years.

Also read: Scientists Find New Evidence Earth Is Getting Hotter

So, what will change? Scientists estimate that the Sun will continue to shine for 5 billion years.

However, the beam will be brighter, and warmer the Earth.

This warming takes place so slowly that we will not even notice it. In about a billion years, our planet will become so hot that the oceans will no longer be able to support life.

However, that is a very long time. The average human life span is about 73 years, so one billion is more than 13 million human lifetimes.

Much later, about 5 billion years from now, the Sun will expand into an even bigger star. Astronomers call it a “red giant” that will eventually engulf Earth.

Just as the Earth existed for more than 4 billion years before humans existed, the Earth will also last for the next 4 billion to 5 billion years. After that, Earth could no longer be inhabited by humans.

Also read: The Earth Is Getting Hotter, This Is The United Nations Prediction Of Global Temperatures For The Next 5 Years

Shichun Huang
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee

This article was published on Kompas.com in collaboration with The Conversation Indonesia. The text above is taken from the original article entitled “The Earth is warming: how long will the Earth last?“. The contents are beyond the responsibility of Kompas.com.

Get selected news updates and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, how to click the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your cellphone.

2023-07-03 07:00:00
#Earth #Hotter #Planet #Kompas.com