Elements

Air

Air | When Did It Appear?

By admin on November 8, 2021

Air is probably the most misunderstood but important gas of all of the substances.  We need it to breath, it keeps us warm and/or cold.  Animals and organisms use it as a home.  It protects us from Ultra Violet Radiation from the Sun.  And many other reasons.  You may ask... Last Update: November 8 2021   Air's First Appearance? Air is not the same thing as Oxygen. Air first appeared on the Earth 4.6 billion years ago during the first of the four great Eons called the Hadean Eon. It was named after the Greek God Hades as it marks a time period where life on Earth was fiery, hazardous unpredictable and a place where there were an abundance of short-lived radioactive elements, with frequent collisions with other Solar System bodies. A place or state of developing spirits. When Earth was formed it was a hot mixture of gases, liquids, and solids. It had little atmosphere. Our Earth's atmosphere currently is a thin layer of gases that are mostly composed of oxygen and nitrogen with a small amount of argon, Carboned dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO) hydrogen, ozone(O3), methane, helium, neon, krypton (for Superman lol) and xenon. But 4.6 billion years ago it consisted of hydrogen sulfide (H2S), Carbon dioxide and methane (CH4). It is thought that the surface was molten, but as volcanoes erupted and the Earth's surface cooled, water started to form and collect, the atmosphere developed. This was about 500 billion years later. The eruptions of volcanoes and their byproducts produced the elements which created the rudiments of an atmosphere, but the greatest contributor occurred during the second great period, the Archean Eon, when methane droplets in the air covered everything within the anaerobic environment. However, Oxygen was found in the compound of water and there was now water on the surface of the planet.  Life was very limited in this environment. In essence all organism that existed during this time needed to use sulfide (H2S) as its primary source of energy. Remember, the simplest definition of life is the ability to utilize and control energy and…