The History of the Earth

Birth of the Sun (13.8 billion years ago)

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The solar system started out as a rotating gas cloud. At some point, a nearby star exploded, sending a shockwave through the gas cloud. This formed the sun and a protoplanetary disk.

Primary Accretion Stage (13.79 billion years ago)

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In the first 100,000 years of this solar system, dust is colliding with each other, forming small clumps. At the end of the 100,000 years, a one kilometer-sized rock gathers additional material allowed to grow, which continues for 10 million years. Meanwhile, the inner solar system has rocky planetesimals becoming embryos and the outer planets are becoming bigger.

The Formation of Planet Earth (4.5 billion years ago)

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Leftover dust from the birth of the sun is colliding, forming clumps, which formed planet Earth. Other planets in the solar system were formed the same way at around the same time.

Giant Impact Stage (4.5 billion years ago)

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At this stage, larger objects are colliding, the planetesimals become the planets known in our solar system. There are four rocky planets in the interior, two gas giants, and two ice giants. 60,000,000 years in, the moon is formed.

Formation of the Moon (4.5 billion years ago)

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60,000,000 years into the creation of the solar system, the moon is formed. An object the size of Mars crashes into Earth, knocks debris off of it - this debris some scientists describe as "molten goop". The "molten goop" stays in orbit around the Earth and cools, forming the moon.

Late Accretion Stage (4.5 billion years ago)

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In the next 600,000,000 years, it is the Late Accretion Stage. During this stage, a pluto-like object hits Earth, creating metal. It deposits the metal at Earth's surface, where it sank to the Earth's core, whilst the outside layer cooled and solidified to form Earth's crust. Different metals discovered today are because of this.

Late Heavy Bombardment (3.8 billion years ago)

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During this period, Jupiter and Saturn migrated towards inner planets, cleared out many small rocks, then migrated back out. Additionally, comets carrying water hit Earth. Hence, the existence of water.

Planetary Cooling (the first billion years of Earth)

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The heat in the core of the Earth is trying to escape, and the additional radioactive elements are heating it even more. This allows the activity in Earth's core - spinning, and the molten metal to remain, which could be the source of the magnetic fields on Earth. As heat tried to escape, it broke up the surface of Earth, creating tectonic plates. The tectonic plates began to move, moving the continents. Later on, different things formed at the crust; mantle plumes, volcanos, and hotspots.