History of the Earth Part 1: Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic Eons

If we are going to learn about the Earth, we had better start from the beginning! The Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic eons will take us all the way from the formation of the Earth, 4.6 billion years ago, until about half a billion years ago, so it's a very nice chunk of time. A lot happened over that time, in the way of the changing conditions on the Earth and its topography, as well as the emergence and evolution of life. There is so much to discuss, so let's dive right in!
Script by Jared Matteucci
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[@nick3718]

i love how dave could easily just churn out “flat earth debunked” videos and get millions of views but he stays committed to educating his subscribers in almost every subject.

[@jojo_da_poe]

Yeah, but I am sure the flat earth debunking videos still help people get introduced to his channel. It did for me.

[@maya20484]

@@jojo_da_poe it definitely did for me - I started with the flat earth debunking, continued with the anti-abiogenesis and electric universe debunking. Now I’m binge-watching the astronomy and biology videos.

[@jojo_da_poe]

@@maya20484 Funny, that is quite literally the exact same order for me

[@erneststyczen7071]

@@jojo_da_poe and me

[@christyfowler2917]

He sounds uneducated to me!!

[@happyhippo4664]

When I was in 2nd grade, in the 1960s, I asked my teacher if Africa and South America were once joined. She told me it was a coincidence. Little did I know I was a pioneer in plate tectonics, which was also validated in the 1960s.

[@saumyaraj3689]

When I was a child and didn't knew about supercontinent, I thought this too

[@Ratciclefan]

cool

[@swarm_into_singularity]

Lol. I love this. Honestly stuff like this happens way too many times where such obvious clues are completely dismissed by professionals.

[@LockstepSeries]

I’m currently studying Geology at my university so I’m really excited to see this series to test myself on what I’ve really picked up. Also it’d be great to see a video on planetary geology!

[@klopcodez]

Useless degree

[@jojo_da_poe]

@@klopcodez How is it useless?

[@deithlan]

I think you may like Artifexian’s channel

[@reynardmoses]

@@klopcodez lol , not every people's life is all about money, every people has their own interest, if every people think like you do, then we're still making fire with wooden stick at present day

[@klopcodez]

@@reynardmoses I agree but the system is fked you don't need to go to school for 4 years to get a degree it's all bs all the work and classes that done matter..only a few classes that matter in that subject your studying

[@dutonic]

I find early earth history super fascinating. Wish I had the time to take more classes like this outside my engineering courses. Stoked af to see this series play out

[@thedeathangeltda]

Same here except it’s my studio classes taking up my time 😔

[@Feed_Outdoor]

Search....... "Radio Polonium Halos"..!!! It Shuts Every Single theory other than creation down You guys are making it up!!!!

[@JaneNayes]

I fully expect you to go into detail on how the earth flattened out in future segments in this series.

[@onecoinmidas4541]

So the Earth started out as a sphere but then gradually flattened out as time progressed? I've never heard that one before.

[@JaneNayes]

@@onecoinmidas4541 That's why we're here. To learn.

[@glennwolfe6056]

Shane Nath hahahahaha, he's not a flat earther, he already debunked that stupid idea in about 3 lessons, you should go back and learn instead of making stupid remarks, you act like a fool.. Enough said

[@noahdelo]

Oh no not that again

[@wethands6417]

@@glennwolfe6056 Work on your sarcasm sensors, it'll really help.

[@mindthesynapticgap4909]

Holy crap im so excited for this series thank you for keeping the knowledge output so damn consistent mr dave

[@Feed_Outdoor]

Search....... "Radio Polonium Halos"..!!! It Shuts Every Single theory other than creation down You guys are making it up!!!!

[@mark737-c4x]

Evolutionist crap im Happy too. That Jesus is returning to put a end to this madness!

[@noahdelo]

Now those were the days let me tell you

[@dorkle9085]

I remember being a single-cellular bacteria, ah, those were the days.

[@OldBenOne]

@@dorkle9085 We just had single cells and asexual reproduction.

[@wfemp_4730]

Oh, how I miss them!

[@jojo_da_poe]

@@OldBenOne Now, in order to have children, I have to #### #### ######## ######

[@thelegando4281]

I remeber a cousin from 500 trillion years ago, iv discovered him throught science (not a random generated number)

[@angelofrngesus8618]

It's always mind boggling for me to think about how even the most simple of animals that we have today were comparatively insanely complex for early earth.

[@tmjewel]

Happy this video was recommended to me by the algorithm. I've enjoyed your debunking videos and now I'm looking forward to watching every playlist of tutorials! I didn't know they would be this good. Thanks for all your effort Dave.

[@chemdog1632]

I find all of your videos fascinating but this is my most anticipated topic, thank so much for all your videos and hard work. You're awesome sir!

[@2854Navman]

Excellent, well done and presented without being needlessly complex.

[@lore.keeper]

Preserving and proliferating scientific knowledge to future generations is the noblest thing you can do for our evolution as a species. Thank you Dave! In love with this series and the ones about biology, zoology and astronomy as well. Keep up the amazing work!

[@JaymeeStudy]

my GOSH, this is SAVING me!! As a second semester Geoscience student, I will be writing an exam on all of history of the earth and life in about 5 weeks. Having all of the stuff lined up like this in the right order and with just the most important events is really helping me to put it all into perspective. Thank you!!

[@nhabib114]

I am so grateful for this very brief video, but packed with information. I need to take notes so I can find detail on some stuff. I look at the billions of years from a historian's point of view and want to tell stories based on the best science I can find.

[@Littlekoji-df1cf]

Simpel yet full of information. You are by far the best at explaining about history of earth. Love from Finland.

[@richardaitkenhead]

Even though I know all of this, I really enjoyed it, felt like a kid again having fun and learning. Hands down best youtube channel.

[@calamitytor]

Probably my favorite series Dave has done, I find this stuff so interesting

[@kieranlinie1269]

Taking first year earth science. Just to note, I have learnt a lot about geology from understanding the origin of the solar system and the geological processes on Mars. Perhaps if you could cover those topics, it could bolster the content of the series, which I am thoroughly enjoying. This is great revision for me

[@TheBillzilla]

I've been fortunate enough to visit a site in Western Australia, where there is a large area of stromatolites. It was amazing to see such ancient living structures.

[@CartoonKidOLLY]

i love you dave! Really! Your passion for teaching is really great! you also speak at the perfect pace, I really feel like I am comprehending everything you say. occasionally though, I will do a little rewind when things get a bit dense! It makes me so happy to see everyone else in the comments brimming with fervor and devotion for the pursuit of this info! So great.... :)

[@acunit5627]

It's pretty surprising how fast life emerged, great video as always!

[@abelis644]

And how it hangs on despite extinction events. We, idiotic humans, are causing the 6th Great Extinction Event. I would pay to find out what will rise to dominance next. Tardigrades descendants? Insects? Worms?

[@VirginiaI]

Fast? You find one billion years fast?

[@acunit5627]

@@VirginiaI bro most of that time earth was completely uninhabitable, seems like once conditions were even moderately right life emerged

[@VirginiaI]

@@acunit5627 OK, put like this, I get it. Once the conditions right, the probabilities shoot up. Leading to : what would've been really surprising, is for it _not_ happening, IMHO (to no-one on Earth, since we wouldn't be here to be surprised :p ).

[@mark737-c4x]

Yes, indeed, it's also surprising that you believe this bullshit!

[@davidwylie9846]

This guy is the best. I've lost my relationship with my father and brother due to the flat Earth hoax. Most flat earthers are absolutely die hard into their fanatic beliefs. It's nice to look up to professor Dave for some solace and mental stability

[@AbdulHannanAbdulMatheen]

👏🙂 Amazing video Professor Dave I loved reading about this when I was a kid.

[@alvinware1988]

found the nerd, nerd- latin for smart

[@cathode_gay_tube1312]

sooo hyped for this geology series!!

[@marj736]

This is veritasium's level of quality. So glad I discovered this channel.

[@wfemp_4730]

Extremely fascinating as well as mind boggling.

[@brian1204]

Excellent content! When I took collegiate geology courses in the mid 1970s everything before the start of the cambrian epoch was just called “Precambrian” although I do remember some discussion of what would become the hadean, archaean, and proterozoic. Cool stuff! Will watch the rest of this series as well!

[@wm9482]

I recall being in 6th grade and one of the textbooks in our classroom used precambrian as well. I was the only one in our class who thought that that time period was interesting to read about

[@DanNguyen-bu5xl]

Very informative easy to follow and perfect talking speed and enunciation

[@ninalehman9054]

Our own planet’s history is a cautionary tale when searching for extraterrestrial life. The scale used in the video isn’t done to proportion, otherwise the topmost (and interesting) part would be small, and the part where life existed only as single celled organisms would be most of the picture. Out of more than 4.5 Billion years since Earth’s formation, complex life was pretty much absent for MOST of that time. If we fit the history of our planet into a 24-hour day, using 4.5 billion years as a round number, an hour represents 187.5 million years. A minute represents 3.125 million years, and a second represents 52,083.3 years. Complex animal life shows up after 9 pm (21:00). Hominids show up around 11:57 pm (23:57), and humans show up somewhere around three seconds before midnight (23:59:57), with modern technology showing up a few 1,000ths of a second before midnight. (1/1,000th of a second is roughly 52 years on this scale.) It took a long time to go from unicellular life to multicellular life. Obviously, evolution was chugging along, doing something during some 3 billion years - but we don’t know what was happening except the time when the oxidation event happened. I hope we can develop new techniques which will shed some light on this missing chapter of evolution. It is a bit like missing the invention of levers, wheels, and screws but then suddenly there are steam locomotives everywhere.

[@suebotchie4167]

Beautiful, beautiful artwork. Was interested in early evolution for alot of years.

[@pepperVenge]

This is truly the best science related content on the web. Professor Dave will be remembered as being among the likes of Neal Degrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, and Albert Einstein.

[@bazingaburg8264]

Professor Dave may not be an era defining scientist, but he's one of the best science communicators out there. I believe it was Einstein who said something along the lines of "unless you can put it in simple terms, you don't understand it". Bridging the gap between simple minds and complex concepts is what makes teachers so invaluable. Without them, progress wouldn't happen.

[@nicholas1173]

Wow, would love to see more geology on the channel. Very good videos

[@Gggggguhhhhhgfffdfc]

What types of geology would you be most interested in?

[@mark737-c4x]

Hi,Professor dave. It's so fascinating how when i watched this video, it was like i was in a fantasy world. It's just incredible...

[@edgeofsanity9111]

FINALLY videos about the history of earth Love that topic

[@09EvoX]

I'm really glad that Dave made the video 11min11sec to create a higher vibrational energy.

[@dangallagher8034]

Excellent work. Thank you very much.

[@aaronlawrence666]

This was awesome. Thank you!

[@nebulan]

Yay i love learning about this stuff!

[@mooredelira]

very good. you should let all the earth science, geology, & biology teachers know about this, it's great. of course paleontology too.

[@devilman3373]

9:56 Wow, that's animals & stuff. But we're still in the ocean, hey, can we go on land?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

No, the sun is a deadly laser.

[@blightchip4236]

Not anymore there’s a blanket

[@endover422]

What marks a boundary between eons/periods? How do we define the end of one eon/period and beggining of next? With the end of Mezozoik it is easy, but with others?

[@meridianheights6255]

Professor Dave and Erika have a lot in common in regards to teaching basic biology to non-academic types (like myself). But... Dave's videos are a little too short, and Erika's videos are a little too long. But I learn so much from both of them. You are appreciated more than you know. Cheers!

[@macieyid]

I'm 40 and I still, from time to time, pause for a few minutes in the evening to think about a billion years. How absolutely freakishly long time that is.

[@mark737-c4x]

Yes, I agree. Have you seen the latest studies that suggest the earth is actually 17 billion years old? Quite facinating.

[@Bluephantompleco88]

Hey almost 3 mil good for you bro 🎉🎉

[@darnhard]

awesome work mate

[@Richardj410]

I have a hell of a time remembering the eon's, thanks for the reminder.

[@abelis644]

Make up a mnemonic?

[@gtbriggs6614]

Hey Dave. Loving your content. You are doing the best job of proper video essay that I have seen. I was looking for other content and found young earth creationism that love to use The Grand Canyon, in particular Coconino Sandstone as proof.

[@GaryGraham66]

I'm sure Mr. Hovind will have something to say about this, completely wrong of course but that won't stop his lips from flapping. 😁👍

[@edrick106]

“Nuh-huh! Bible says God did it! You are wrong I’m right!” - Probably how Hovind would react to this video

[@thekwjiboo]

If being completely wrong about everything all the time stopped him, he would never have anything to say. COWS PRODUCE COWS!!!

[@Alessandro-B]

You've misspelled convict # 06452-017.

[@thekwjiboo]

@@Alessandro-B I'm tempted to make several fake KZbin accounts just so I can give this comment more thumbs up.

[@pk10x]

Real talk. You ARE the Professor

[@jijzer3284]

so simple but well explaine in just over 10 minutes

[@moehoward01]

Thanks Dave!

[@andremaloney4128]

Minor issue: current thinking about the mechanics of plate motion is that “slab pull” is a major driver.

[@davidsmith-uw2ci]

I love learning this kind of stuff wish I had more of this in school

[@michaelzajic6231]

Thank you for this excellence.

[@thecuto]

This is gonna be awsome

[@WhiteHazee]

Like always 🙂

[@ofdlttwo]

You make amazing content

[@alejandracoronaortega3452]

As a Montessorian trying to learn the Clock of Eras, this is very helpful!

[@e.m.2655]

If I could subscribe twice I would. Really excited about this series!

[@VectorOfKnowledge]

You can subscribe twice. Just unsubscribe and then immediately subscribe again.

[@jojo_da_poe]

@@VectorOfKnowledge "No no, he's got a point"

[@glennpearson9348]

Gosh. And here was me, thinking the Earth was only 6,000 years old, flat, and with a dome over it, and the moon and sun are both so close I can almost reach up and snag them out of the sky with my bare hands. Professor Dave, you've completely destroyed my world view.

[@thomasnaas2813]

I destroy my world view every night, but I reconsruct it the following day, after the liquor stores open.

[@glennpearson9348]

@@thomasnaas2813 Now, THAT'S funny! Well played, sir!

[@jojo_da_poe]

@@glennpearson9348 Whenever I punch my computer, I am destroying my whole world.

[@pm6127]

Hope this was sarcasm

[@glennpearson9348]

@@pm6127 Yes, it was sarcasm. Now that I've said it's sarcasm, it isn't sarcasm anymore. Find some happy, my friend.

[@seionne85]

Tutorials on earth plus everything on it, in it, or around it. Lol Thanks Dave

[@mgrzx3367]

So your saying Kent Hovind is lying about the six thousand year old Earth? Oh I forgot, you crushed him.

[@kneekoo]

Oh, boy... that puppet molester!

[@denzelminimo1883]

Kent is still got butthurt after that debate (since he actually knew that he lost on that debate)

[@fannysundinswe1040]

very good, should be nice with a list of sources so you can use the videos in school work

[@odysseusrex5908]

7:07 the fact that the sky used to be orange and green is fascinating. I can understand that different atmospheric gasses could produce different sky colors makes sense, but how could it have been two different colors? What factors would have caused it to be orange, and what would have caused it to be green?

[@mizzshortie907]

The chemical makeup? Methane and co2

[@mizzshortie907]

?

[@ArleneDKatz]

Wonderful thank you!

[@closedeyesopenmind]

best intro on youtube

[@fijisharbrough]

Why am I starting my late morning with this?

[@MaryAnnNytowl]

Isn't the current hypothesis that we have the plates for plate tectonics from the impact with Theia? I seem to remember reading a paper on that subject recently. I'd be interested in your thoughts on thsg hypothesis.

[@bassplayersayer]

Hi professor Dave. I really enjoy your video's. I have a thought about Theia. This early one the earths' crust would have been more or less solid. Could the impact with Theia been the beginning of the tectonic plates??

[@-JA-]

Thank you.

[@Simonspacex]

I like the video, it was very well explained, but you forgot to include the formation of the outer core which was 2 billion years ago.

[@MISSIONCAT11]

I enjoyed this presentation. Thanks ! Could you talk about the last million years and how the earth's temperature was mostly cold, with 10,000 year periods of hot weather every 100,000 years, and how the earth is in one of the 10,000 year hot periods just now, and how that fits in with global warming ?

[@Chloe-nx3vg]

I kinda want you as my science teacher, you discussing it made me understand more, than my science teachers

[@user-cs9qc4su9v]

Please can you make a video on the catastrophism and big band theory

[@buttercxpdraws8101]

Why was the water there in the Archaen? Where did the water come from, or what conditions made it form?? (Sorry if this is a silly question, I’m new to all this but find it absolutely fascinating 🧐)

[@Ikaro_Vincente]

I love your channel 🌻❤️

[@Brickzot]

“That’s cool and all, but….were you _there_ ?” - Ken Ham

[@dogwalker666]

Ken Ham and Kent Hovind were there.

[@painovoimaton]

Geology is deeply interesting. I'm a sucker for structures and systems of almost incomprehensible scale - geology is almost like a cosmology of our homeworld. Gigantic things happening over billions of years (a number already incomprehensible to our brain) is just an infinite source of fascination for me.

[@stiofanofirghil1916]

The full of Scotland is a craton!! Cool to know I'm living on some of earth's oldest rocks..

[@jimmurphy6095]

Theia hitting us did a number of very good things for Planet Earth. It's thought to have almost doubled our core size, creating the long lasting dynamo that powers our magnetosphere. Without which, the Sun would have already ripped the atmosphere from our world. Mars, with a much smaller core, has already lost its air envelope because its dynamo shut down eons ago. It also gave us our Moon. Much larger in comparison to any other moon/planet combination in the solar system. It provides the stability we need for regular seasons. Mars also swings wildly due to the tugs of its 2 smaller moons.

[@kiwi_2_official]

you make some of the best content on youtube lmao

[@stephankeller2301]

Hello, I realy like your videos. I have one question regarding the used pictures: Are they all open source or do you have the right to use them or did you do them yourself? Iam asking because Iam thinking about doing a video series about astrobiology in german, but I realy have a hard time with problems like that.

[@YasinNabi]

wonderful video and helped a lot. thanks for sharing :).... Subbed and liked ! ^^^

[@paulc2019]

'Convection currents changed in the mantel 1.8 billion years ago' around 8.41 mark. Do we know what causes this?

[@tzaidi2349]

Where can I get the poster from the opening scene from?

[@Vandalia1998]

I’m also doing a mini series about each of the Geological Eons/Periods/Epochs

[@panditrashtrapal]

Thanks Sir from India...

[@thompson1180]

Professor Dave - I just got turned onto the flat earth videos and loved how snarky they are. Would love to see more humorous content

[@shaftomite007]

Curious about the 4.57B number... could you please go over the actual original formation of the mass of the proto-planet or whatever? Was it just a long period of coalescence of dust/matter/heavier elements produced by the sun? Where does the specific number of 4.57B come from?

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Check my astronomy series for tutorials on the formation of the earth and rest of the solar system.

[@danielefosa1679]

Let's go!!!!

[@lwo7736]

I loved that

[@stevoplex]

My ears are still ringing from that Cambrian explosion!

[@lefm_]

I'm (re)learning math with professor Dave, why not some geology too?

[@sirwanksalot1667]

Your videos are very useful and I thank you. Could I be cheeky and request that you do some videos on vectors and matrices and also calculating energies in different kinds of chemical bonds, distance between atoms etc. Thankyou. I don't have any money but if we ever meet I shall pay you in kind X

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

Check my linear algebra playlist for matrices!

[@sirwanksalot1667]

@@ProfessorDaveExplains thank you, you are a legend

[@warren52nz]

We often throw around numbers like a million or a billion but both are almost impossible to grasp without math. So here's an attempt to bring them into something we can try to "get". Fasten your seatbelt... Imagine you start counting at a rate of 3 numbers per second... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.... a manageable rate. Forget about saying numbers out loud but keep going at that rate without stopping for anything (like sleeping or eating). I've done the math. You'd get to one thousand after 330 seconds or five and a half minutes. You'd get to a million in 3.8 days. You'd get to a a billion in ten and a half years counting 3 numbers per second, 24 hours a day. Now consider that EVERY ONE of those numbers at 3 per second is a WHOLE YEAR. That's a billion years. Do that three and a half times. That would take 36.6 years or about half a life time. Life has been evolving for that many years, each reproduction being a similar but subtly different version of its parent all competing for limited resources. Is it any surprise that after that amount of time, we see what we see around us now? If you dispute that life has been evolving for that long then you're simply wrong (and undoubtedly religious). And while we're at blowing our minds, we know that our galaxy, the Milky Way, has about 100 billion stars in it. Don't bother to fine tune my claims, it's irrelevant to this discussion and it's approximately correct. The speed of light is so fast that it could circle the Earth 5 times in 1 second! At that unbelievable speed, the NEAREST STAR would take 4 years to get to! THE NEAREST STAR out of 100 billion! Now consider that we can see hundreds of billion galaxies and there are more that we can't see because of the speed of light limitation. Each one will have billions of stars. With that in mind tell me that you think a god created the Universe just for us. On a side note what do you think the odds are that there isn't any other intelligent life out there? We may never meet them because they're so far away but if we do then that means there's a fundamental law of physics we haven't yet discovered that gets around the speed of light limitation set forth by Einstein and which has never been shown to be wrong.

[@messiahjonz]

love the content... but would love to see citations at the end of the videos or in the descriptions.

[@ProfessorDaveExplains]

This is all basic geology knowledge that can be found in any geology textbook.

[@perplexedpapa]

Oh yes! This will be great!🧠🥳 I can see some YECs losing their minds! 🤣😂🤣 You are definitely getting whacked again! 🤣😹🤣😂🤣😹🤣 Thanks! ✌️💘🤘🖖

[@ZezimaTruth]

Your series are so random . But awesome

[@scout663]

i wish you were around when I went to school.

[@johnstolz18]

I have a question. At around 2:30 the video transitions rather swiftly from an Earth mostly molten after the Theia collision to an Earth where oceans were forming. If the rock of the Earth was molten, presumaly any water that ws present in the proto-Earth was boiled off. My understanding was that the water arrived in comets, although that seems to have been brought into question by isotopic comparisons with Earth's water and that of samples from comets. So, where did the water come from?

[@secularidiot9052]

The water came from multiple different celestial objects crashing into Earth. This means that along with comets there were also asteroids and meteorites. And even if the water "boiled off", it would still be retained in the Earth's atmosphere as water vapor.

[@davidsmith-uw2ci]

I love how creationists avoid early development of earth and the early era's/periods of earth especially the animals like the plague lol. Bcuz it goes against all their claims and they can't back them up.

[@PelicansPress]

Evolution isn't anti-Bible. Earth being formed in this way, isn't anti-Bible. Do some creationists avoid science from ignorance? Sure. Do some scientists avoid the drastic impossibilities of earth itself being formed (10^55)? Yes. Failures on both sides.

[@antiksur8883]

@@PelicansPress That's very interesting. How very surprising is it that polypeptides, lipid bilayers, rudimentary sugars and simple nucleobases and amino acids in homochiral configurations have been shown to form experimentally under hadean eon-like conditions, then?

[@PelicansPress]

@@antiksur8883 In perfect lab conditions they sure have. That just isn't realistic to the state of the earth at the times of the needed configurations.

[@Tornadopelt]

@@PelicansPress "Do some scientists avoid the drastic impossibilities of earth itself being formed (10^55)?" Big number thrown out there for shock value.

[@PelicansPress]

@@Tornadopelt By all accounts the statistical impossibilities of humans being here is improbable. Whatever statistic spectrum you want to use is fine. Once you get to a certain level of improbability you aren't talking about reality more the conceptual idea of something happening which what bi-pedal, conscious, moral beings are.