Plate tectonics "key to life on earth".

[Cheese]

If Earth had been slightly smaller and less massive, life might never have gained a foothold. The forces that move continents and build mountains. And the more massive a world is, the thinner its plates are. Thinner plates are weaker and more easily moved and so able to support the kinds of crucial planet-shaping plate tectonics experienced on this planet over the billions of years that life evolved from simple one-celled organisms to complex creatures that can fly, swim and read.

Scientists: Earth Barely Supports Life


Interesting read...

[Bill Bumface]

So what you're saying is Adam and Eve would have died before they had time to do it with the snake?

[photon]

This clearly shows that the earth was created just for us!

[Flames89]

Wouldn't going to a "Super-Earth" be somewhat painful as gravity would be 3x more?

Forget golf tourism!

[4X4]

Originally Posted by photon

This clearly shows that the earth was created just for us!

Likely by a bearded man that only works 6 days a week.

[foofighter15]

also if we were a mile closer to the sun we'd burn up, or a mile away we'd freeze.
Scientists just love how exact everything has to be for the earth to survive

[ken0042]

^^ Actually our distance from the sun has little to do with temperatures on earth. For example, right now we are about 5 million kilometres closer to the sun than we are in summer.

[atb]

Isn't stuff like this a moot point since if these conditions did not exist we wouldn't be around to notice these conditions? Therefore we should expect conditions to be perfect for life and anything contradicting this would be the amazing thing.

[photon]

Originally Posted by atb112

Isn't stuff like this a moot point since if these conditions did not exist we wouldn't be around to notice these conditions? Therefore we should expect conditions to be perfect for life and anything contradicting this would be the amazing thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

[Leeman4Gilmour]

Originally Posted by ken0042

^^ Actually our distance from the sun has little to do with temperatures on earth. For example, right now we are about 5 million kilometres closer to the sun than we are in summer.

I will apologize in advance to any posters who may find this ridiculous (as I'm sure our school system may have taught me that, but I may have forgot), but I did not know this and find that very intriguing/interesting. I will research now.

[ken0042]

A "sunrise/sunset" page I go to gives the actual distances:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...nomy.html?n=55

[atb]

Originally Posted by photon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle

Ah thanks, yeah I guess that theory would work in combination with M-Theroy that the universe has expanded and contracted in the past and there has been more than one big bang.