History Of The Earth
INSTRUCTIONS:1. Before you complete this assignment, you will first need to read the National Geographic Article Rise of Life on Earth and also review the chart on events in Earth’s history.Using the insights from these readings and your own personal reasoning, answer any 3 of the 8 questions below. Each well-thought, relevant posting consisting of a substantive paragraph as an answer to each question will be worth 5 points for a total of 15 for this assignment. The late penalty is 10 % per calendar day.1. What are some striking observations you can make about the spacing of the events listed?2a. What are the 3 main hypotheses on how early microbial life developed on Earth?2b. Which one makes more sense to you (if any) and why?3. What possible explanation can you suggest for why it took so long for more complex forms of life (multi-cellular) to develop?4. What possible explanations can you suggest for why there are so few events recorded in the rock record until 540 million years ago?5. Why do you think mammals developed so late in the history of the Earth?6. What is the percent of time occupied by humans in the Earth’s history? How does this compare to the entire Earth’s history?7. Considering your answer to the previous question, how do you feel about the impact of humans on our planet’s ecology and other forms of life on Earth?
