The earth once had a rain of more than 10 million years. Will such weather still appear in the future?

If one day you can take a time machine to the earth 4 billion years ago, then for you, this is definitely a purgatory-level existence. At this time, the earth not only has no plants in the mountains and fields, but even low-level creatures. It is a planet made of magma, and the scorching high temperature bakes you, making it difficult for you to survive here for even a second.

10 million years of heavy rain

The earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. Before that, two generations of stars lived in the current position of the solar system, but the masses of these two generations of stars were very large, resulting in very violent nuclear fusion reactions, so that the lifespan of stars is very short, As stars reach the end of their lives, they explode in supernovae, throwing their material across the universe.

In the following years, under the action of gravitational collapse, these materials reassembled into the sun, and the scraps that made up the sun formed the eight planets and other stars in the solar system.

About 4.6 billion years ago, 60% of the earth's material had been formed. Although it is very different from the earth today, the real earth was formed at this time.

At the beginning of its formation, the temperature of the earth was abnormally high, and the surface of the earth was in a state of molten magma, and rocks could not exist, and could only tumble in the magma. At such high temperatures, water cannot exist in liquid form, but turns into water vapor and escapes into the atmosphere.

We know that water in the atmosphere combines with condensation nuclei in the air to form small water droplets, and when the small water droplets clump together, clouds form.

When the diameter of the small water droplets is large enough, the density of these small water droplets is greater than the density of air, so that they fall to the ground, forming rain. But in ancient times, the temperature of the earth was very high, as high as several hundred degrees Celsius, which caused the rain in the air to re-evaporate under the action of high temperature before it fell to the ground, forming water vapor, and then forming clouds, and that's it cycle back and forth.

About 4 billion years ago, the temperature of the earth began to slowly drop to only about 70°C. Although the temperature is still not suitable for the growth of life, the water vapor at this time can form small raindrops and fall on the ground, which forms rain. .

But we know that the earth still maintains a relatively high temperature at this time. After the rainwater flows to the ground, it is easily evaporated under the action of high temperature and re-condenses into small raindrops that fall on the ground.

In this way, the primitive earth had a rain that lasted for tens of millions of years. These rainwater and the water carried by the asteroid when it hit the earth together formed the earth's primitive ocean, but the area of ​​the primitive ocean and the composition of the ocean are all the same as the present. There is a big difference today.

the origin of life

Although the composition of the primordial ocean is very different from that of today, the most primitive life on earth is bred near the hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the primordial ocean.

At that time, there was no ozone layer on the earth's surface, and ultraviolet rays could reach the earth's surface directly, making it impossible for the earth's surface to survive at all, and primitive life could only appear in the ocean.

When the earth was first formed, thunder and lightning weather frequently occurred on the earth. Miller once used the Miller experimental device to simulate the early earth's environment and found that under frequent thunder and lightning, various organic matter would form in the ocean.

If we think of life as a edifice, then organic matter is bricks and bricks. These bricks and bricks cannot be built into a edifice spontaneously, but near the mouth of the hydrothermal vent, the substances continuously erupted from the hydrothermal vent, and the surrounding sea water make the Directional movement of hydrogen ions.

The directional movement of hydrogen ions can drive the rotation of ATP to generate energy, and early life can rely on this energy to survive and reproduce.

In this way, near the mouth of the hydrothermal vent, organic matter began to slowly form life under the directional movement of hydrogen ions. Although these lives are very simple, you and I originated from here.

Will there be such heavy rain in the future?

From the perspective of the reasons for the formation of rain, global warming will accelerate the evaporation of liquid water, and the evaporated water vapor will combine with the dust in the air to form rain that falls to the ground, so as long as the earth's temperature is high enough, it will Caused a heavy rain that lasted for tens of millions of years.

But in fact, it is difficult for the earth today to have another heavy rain that lasts for thousands of years, because the earth now has plants and animals. When the earth's temperature reaches a certain level, although it will lead to an increase in rain, the rain will also melt a certain amount of carbon dioxide gas, resulting in a decrease in carbon dioxide gas in the air, which will lead to a drop in the temperature of the earth.

Rain and high temperature can promote the growth of plants, such as tropical rain forests, and the increase of plants will consume carbon dioxide in the air and release oxygen, which will slowly reduce the temperature of the earth. Other things being equal, the lower the temperature, the slower the evaporation of water, so less precipitation.

Of course, all of this is without human intervention. If we do not pay attention to protecting the environment and emit carbon dioxide at will, it will lead to a heavy rain that may last for tens of millions of years in the future. Whether it can survive on earth is an unknown.