I have always wondered what makes earth so special? Why did life start on earth, and no other planets? As humans we are made to wonder. We may wonder what we are we going to get for lunch, or where did she get those shoes from? But what happens when we wonder about deeper/meaningful subjects? This is when those questions that we may have wondered about, start to control our life. A question that always comes to mind when space is talked about Is; Why is earth the perfect place for humans to live? Why does the earth have all the right factors for life? I’ll explore innovative ideas that will challenge me. I hope to find some type of answer to my question. I don’t expect to have a definitive answer by the end of this assignment, but I hope to find some type of closure.

Now before exploring this subject, we need to know what the base of our life is founded on, the earth. Earths appearance: Earth Is the 5th largest planet in the solar system. Earth is made of rock and metal and has a central core made of rock and metal. Earth is the only world with liquid water on the surface. Earth has a diameter of roughly 8,000 miles and it mostly stays round because of the gravities pulling.

Earths creation: Earth supposedly was created from the Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago an unimaginably tiny volume of space suddenly and rapidly expanded to immense size. In this hot time all the matter and energy in the universe was formed.)  From the big bang the earth was formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust. Its diameter is about 12,700 kilometers (7,900 miles), and its mass is about 5.97×1024 kilograms (6.58×1021 tons).

Earth’s “anatomy”: Earth atmosphere consists of 78 % nitrogen, 21 % oxygen, and 1 % of other gases. It is split into 7 continents that are separated by water and land. The reason why earth doesn’t have water is because the earth proximity to the sun and the high temperatures, no water was present. Water could have been brought to Earth by comets or asteroids colliding with the Earth. Earth is the largest and most massive of the rocky inner planets, although it is dwarfed by the gas giants beyond the Asteroid Belt.

The needs of life

In the past when explorers would go exploring for new land, they had some essential needs. Water and food were gathered before leaving, and along the way. The body needs water to survive, the longest the human body can last without water is 3 days. Our body loses ¾ of a gallon of water each day, which means we need to keep hydrating ourselves to survive. You need to replace the fluid every day because chronic dehydration causes big issues.

Different than water our body can survive without food for 3 weeks. That’s a pretty long time, you could tour over Europe in that time. But without eating for a bit our body will start to go into survival mode.

• After 6 hours, your body starts using up excess fat and turning it into glucose.
• After 3 days, your metabolism slows down and enters starvation mode. The brain is prioritized and most of the body’s fuel goes to it.
• After a while, the lack of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) starts to take its toll on the immune system. This means a higher risk of infections and disease.
• Up to 3 weeks, the body starts breaking down muscle tissue to use its high protein content. And after 3 weeks your body will start diminishing and heart attacks start happening, or worse death.

Oxygen is the air component that keeps you alive. Oxygen is used to produce and transport energy throughout your body. We rely on oxygen daily to maintain our body’s function. We breathe oxygen from the air in our atmosphere, than it transports it to our cells, tissues, and organs through the bloodstream. Air plays a vital role in recycling one of Earth’s most important substances: carbon. Carbon is essential because humans are carbon- based life. The is carbon cycle is a process that helps create new usable air for humans to consume. In this image there is a carbon cycle. We can see how it is a process that uses a bunch of different environmental factors to create air that we can breathe. The trees and clouds work together, likewise the animals and water works the same.

Scientists have said that “Earth is the right distance from the sun, such that liquid water has been stable in significant volumes over much of the planet’s lifetime.” I have already shared the reasoning that water is essential in the survival of any living organism on earth, but what about the distance to the sun? these two factors are actually connected. Water is a need for humans. If the sun was too far away the heat wouldn’t reach the earth properly which would lead to all the water being frozen And if the sun was too close to the earth, the heat would dissolve the water into a gas .(which would be useless) We need the propre medium that keeps that water not too cold, nor to hot. And that’s exactly what we got.

What would happen if our earth started losing oxygen? Again some scientist have said that they believe that in “One billion years from now, Earth’s atmosphere will contain very little oxygen, making it uninhabitable for complex aerobic life…One central reason for the shift is that, as our sun ages, it will become hotter and release more energy. The researchers calculate that this will lead to a decrease in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as CO2 absorbs heat and then breaks down.” That’s worrisome isn’t it. Our sun is supposedly 4.6 billion years old at the moment. Which means that the sun will live 5.6 billion years until it will start to deteriorate and cause problems to the earth. So then what happens after to earth if it starts to loose it oxygen? or its water? simple answer, everything would die. So, lets find a new planet.

This guy here Elon Musk has a  dream that humans/ life will have a life on mars. Mars:  colored brown, gold, and tan. you may have noticed that inn all images mars is shown as red. The reason why Mars looks reddish is due to oxidization – or rusting – of iron in the rocks, regolith (Martian “soil”), and dust of Mars. Mars is supposedly half the size of earth. A visualization scientist use is that if mars was the size of a nickel, earth would be the size of a raspberry.

Scientist are trying to find old life on mars to prove that there was life previously on mars. This research will help prove that if life was possible hundreds of years ago, in the future their is a chance. If we look at this image down below which is showing all the planets lined up; we see that Mars is beside earth.   Mars is said to be a terrestrial planet. this means a planet similar to earth that is made up of rocks with a hard surface . There is very little water on the surface on mars. So if we want to live up there, their would have to be monthly shipments of water being sent up so that humans could stay hydrate. Another issue is  that Mars has a thin atmosphere and lacks a magnetic field, which makes it exposed to high levels of radiation and solar winds.. a thin atmosphere will result to not enough air for life. And if mars is becomes a living ground for humans, there will need to be a new way for oxygen to be present.

Earth was made perfectly for humans living conditions. We have the perfect amount of air, water, food and climate. Everything was made perfectly for us. But we know that if something terrible would happen, mars could be a potential home. I hope that my research has helped answer some questions that you may have regarding space.

BIOGRAPHY

Choi, Charles Q., and Ailsa Harvey. “Planet Earth: Everything You Need to Know.” Space.Com, Space, 9 Nov. 2021, www.space.com/54-earth-history-composition-and-atmosphere.html.

“How Did Earth Get Its Oxygen?” The Planetary Society, www.planetary.org/articles/how-did-earth-get-its-oxygen. Accessed 22 May 2024.