Question

How were the universe and earth created?

Answer 1

A few thoughts...

Explanation:

From a scientific perspective, there are at least two very different questions here.

How was the universe created?

We have pretty good models of how the universe developed from about time `10^(-44)` seconds about `13.8` billion years ago. Big Bang theory describes this development, but does not actually tell us why the universe came into being. We have no models to describe the universe prior to time `10^(-44)` seconds. We do not know why the universe at least appears to contain more matter than anti-matter.

Does the expression "before the Big Bang" actually mean anything? If there was no time and space, then there seems to be no frame of reference to speak of.

How was the earth created?

Science does provide more answers for this question. From radiometric dating of earth's oldest rocks (at least the ones that we have found at the surface), we know that the earth is more than `4.1` billion years old. Applying similar dating techniques to meteorites, we can date them to about `4.5` to `4.6` billion years old.

According to standard scientific theory, the sun, earth, other planets and asteroids (from which we get meteorites) formed at roughly the same time, about `4.6` billion years ago, accreting under the force of gravity from a nebula. Most of the local material coalesced into the sun. leaving a residual protoplanetary disc. Smaller objects in the solar system tend to be rocky, having had most of the lighter gases stripped away by the solar wind. Larger objects such as Jupiter and Saturn were able to hold on to lighter gas and 'snowball' into the gas giants we know today.

The early solar system was a rather busy place, with many collisions. According to at least one popular theory, a large roughly Mars-sized planet collided with the Earth, breaking off material which subsequently coalesced into the Moon.