Earth Science- Tesc- Written Assignment 1

Written Assignment 1

Thais C. Hernandez

Thomas Edison State College

1. Summarize advances over time in determining the age of the Earth, including the importance of the discovery of radioactivity.

Throughout history, the age of the Earth has been a long debated, researched and studied subject. Without modern science and geological research, evidence from sacred texts, including the Bible have all been utilized as a vehicle in determining the age of the Earth. According to Wysession, the first documented evidence of geological research to determine the age of the Earth dates back to 450 B.C.E.

While the 18th and 19th centuries research into the age of the Earth consisted of more scientific examinations, including the studying of salinities, and rates of sedimentation, scientists of these eras were unable to determine with any uncertainty a [factual] age for the Earth. However, it was during these eras that the "wrong calculations" of the Earth's age would pave the road towards a deeper scientific approach to determining the age of the Earth.

According to Wysession (L. 2) up until that time, scientists had used relative dating by examining sedimentary layers to date the Earth. The problem with relative dating is that often times there are gaps within the layers due to rock erosion and other geological processes making the process unreliable.

It wasn't until calculations in dating the Earth included the Earth's radioactivity. BY understanding the heat which radioactivity creates and thus, decays rocks, tracking the relative amounts of uranium and lead from the rock's decay allowed scientists to date the Earth more precisely.

2. What makes Earth a habitable, relatively stable environment within which we exist and survive?  Review the early development of the solar system, including the Big Bang theory, to support your answer.  

The location of planet Earth in the solar system is what makes Earth a habitable and relatively stable environment...