homeschool--history A2

Week A2

Since we are back at the beginning of our history studies, we go way back to the first history of the world.

Topic: Creation Days 1-3

The history of earth itself goes back before people. We have some guesses at what was going on in that time period, probably some reliable, by scientists, but keep in mind that only one hundred years ago they villified the person who came up with the idea of the atom (to the point that he hung himself), it is easy to see that the scientists can be very wrong ("even if all the experts agree, they can be wrong").

The scriptures give us an extremely basic outline of the earth's history straight from the Creator Himself, covering six periods (plus a time of rest), each an indeterminate length of time. "We have another example in the term used to describe the six creative periods. In the book of Abraham, the phases of creation are not called the “day” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13) but “the second time,” “the third time” (Abr. 4:8, 13; emphasis added), and so forth. We therefore learn that periods of time for the Creation may have lasted 24 hours each, 1,000 years, or even millions of years. . . The periods of time are indeterminate in length; as one phase of the creation was finished, the next began. Therefore the age of the earth before Adam and Eve could have been great indeed. "(Woodford, Robert J., "'In the Beginning': an LDS perspective", Ensign, January 1998)"

According to scripture, the earth at first was without form and void (empty of life). We don't know for sure if this means the planet itself had already been created along with the beginnings of the universe, and was just waiting lifelessly to be prepared for life, or if the elements were still waiting to be put together as a planet at this point. Elder Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles In Journal of Discourses, 19:286: “The materials out of which this earth was formed, are just as eternal as the materials of the glorious personage of the Lord himself. … This being, when he formed the earth, did not form it out of something that had no existence, but he formed it out of materials that had an existence from all eternity: they never had a beginning, neither will one particle of substance now in existence ever have an end. There are just as many particles now as there were at any previous period of duration, and will be while eternity lasts. Substance had no beginning; … the earth was formed out of eternal materials, and it was made to be inhabited and God peopled it with creatures of his own formation.”

The first day "The “waters” of the great “deep” were present, and “darkness reigned” until the divine decree: “Let there be light.” The light and the darkness were then “divided,” the one being called “Day” and the other “Night.” Clearly our planet was thus formed as a revolving orb and placed in its relationship to our sun. (See Moses 2:1–5; Abr. 4:1–5.)"

On [day two] “the waters” were “divided” between the surface of the earth and the atmospheric heavens that surround it. A “firmament” or an “expanse” called “Heaven” was created to divide “the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse.” Thus, as the creative events unfold, provision seems to be made for clouds and rain and storms to give life to that which will yet grow and dwell upon the earth. (See Moses 2:6–8; Abr. 4:6–8.)

The Third Day—This is the day when life began. In it “the waters under the heaven” were “gathered together unto one place,” and the “dry land” appeared. The dry land was called “Earth,” and the assembled waters became “the Sea.” This is the day in which “the Gods organized the earth to bring forth” grass and herbs and plants and trees; and it is the day in which vegetation in all its varied forms actually came forth from the seeds planted by the Creators. This is the day when the decree went forth that grass, herbs, and trees could each grow only from “its own seed,” and that each could in turn bring forth only after its own “kind.” And thus the bounds of the plant and vegetable kingdoms were set by the hands of those by whom each varied plant and tree was made. (See Moses 2:9–13; Abr. 4:9–13.)
(Bruce R. McConkie, Sept. 1983).

This would have been an exciting time period to watch. During this period, there may have been what scientists call "snowball earth," a time when the earth was completely glatiated on top, and so bright white with snow that all sunlight bounced off. So how did it thaw out? The interior of the earth was still very active under its thin snow layer, and geothermal activity eventually burst out in the form of volcanoes. The air would have been unihabitable for us at that point, with so much CO2 and dense cloud cover from melting ice, but an acid rain eventually washed it clean (reminds me of Venus right now). Algae was probably among the first plants put on earth, because it could survive the extreme conditions. Lichen would have helped break down fresh volcanic rock.

A lichen is a very strange organism. It is actually made out of alga and fungus living together as one living thing. (Look up alga and fungi). As long as the alga part of the lichen has water and light, it can make its own food, so the lichen does not need dirt or other plants to survive. The fungus part of the lichen eats food the alga makes, then it makes the whole lichen grow bigger, and it also helps the alga part by soaking up lots of water whenever there is water available.Most lichen has little strands that hook it to rocks, and these help break tiny pieces of rock off to make dirt. When the lichen dies, it also becomes a part of the dirt or soil, and provides some nutrition or food for later plants.Lichen can stand really, really hot or cold temperatures. There are even 4,000 year old lichens in the Arctic! The earth at this early time was probably still pretty steamy hot, so it would have been important for the lichen to be tough.

There were probably plants like seaweed in the water at this time. Other plants would soon grow. The first big plants, since the weather was steamy, were tropical: giant ferns, mosses, horsetails, and trees with cones. As these plants died and were buried in the earth, they became what we call fossil fuels. What are fossil fuels? Investigate.Eventually the weather cooled and then came flowers, grass, and maples, oaks and other trees that we see today. The weather and the plants were changed over time, all according to God's plan for us.

You can learn more about snowball earth here:
http://www-eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/snowball_paper.html
http://www.snowballearth.org/end.html
You can also find some videos on the topic at youtube.com


A fun experiment is to go outside and pick some dried up lichen off a tree, bring it inside and put it in water. It goes from white/gray to green very quickly.