Geologic Timeline In Ratios

[Bev]

And yes I have looked this up on Google and even Google Images - there is just nothing that my poor little pea brain can seem to wrap around... and maybe it is the math.

I'm trying to explain the geologic timeline in a couple of different ways for kids. This picture is taken at the end of my driveway and has a horizon. The horizon perhaps being the beginning of earth, or the galaxy, or the universe???

And then I liked Auspex's idea of using water and I have a large rain catch barrel - but I don't know how to figure out how many gallons it holds so if someone has a formula for that it would help.

So I'm thinking that if I can give them two ways to kind of get a handle on time in big broad strokes, something might sink in. Then take them too the like 12' timeline I need to put together yet.

OR any other ideas out there?

Thanks!

Bev

[painshill]

Hi Bev

You can get the volume of a cylindrical barrel by entering the dimensions here:

http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/Calculations/Volume_of_a_Cylindrical_Tank.htm

As it happens, I had posted the picture below on another thread earlier today:

Maybe need to change it from beer to soda, milkshake or something!

The dates are very approximate, so you could refine them if you want to avoid dissent and argument. Hope there are no "creationist young-earthers" in the audience!

Edited July 24, 2014 by painshill

[Bev]

Very interesting! Looks like root beer to me.

Is there anything I should be accounting for like the earth is a molten ball, land is beginning to form, that kind of thing?

[painshill]

Very interesting! Looks like root beer to me.

Is there anything I should be accounting for like the earth is a molten ball, land is beginning to form, that kind of thing?

Here's a couple of useful and more detailed resources:

ftp://ftpdata.dnr.sc.gov/geology/Education/PDF/Geologic%20Time.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth

[FossilDAWG]

I like the beer metaphor. However, I thought I read recently that plate tectonics ("continental drift") probably was causally linked to the explosion of metazoan life in the late Precambrian, which would have placed it somewhere in the vicinity of 600-700 million years ago or a bit earlier. Certainly one sees reconstructions of the position of the plates in the Cambrian, Ordovician, and so on with the plates in very different arrangements from the present day. So, why is "continental drift" pegged at 200 million years on the beer glass?

Don

[Auspex]

Indeed. Was there ever a time, subsequent to the organization of continental plates, when they were not in motion?

[painshill]

I like the beer metaphor. However, I thought I read recently that plate tectonics ("continental drift") probably was causally linked to the explosion of metazoan life in the late Precambrian, which would have placed it somewhere in the vicinity of 600-700 million years ago or a bit earlier. Certainly one sees reconstructions of the position of the plates in the Cambrian, Ordovician, and so on with the plates in very different arrangements from the present day. So, why is "continental drift" pegged at 200 million years on the beer glass?

Don

It's only meant to be a bit of fun! I would think what the original artist meant by "continental drift" was the onset of the break-up of Pangea for which 200 mya is a reasonable date.

[Bev]

Here's a couple of useful and more detailed resources:

ftp://ftpdata.dnr.sc.gov/geology/Education/PDF/Geologic%20Time.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth

Awesome Resources! I could even understand them! Thank YOU!

[FossilDAWG]

It's only meant to be a bit of fun! I would think what the original artist meant by "continental drift" was the onset of the break-up of Pangea for which 200 mya is a reasonable date.

And it is fun!

I didn't mean to be overly picky, and your explanation is reasonable.

I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said "Beer is proof that God exists, and that He wants us to be happy".

Don

[Bev]

HELP!

I have 460' and I know this should be easy but it is not! 4.6 Billion years in geologic time.

460' into 4.6 billion... 1,000 millions in a billion...

10' would equal???? 10 million years or 100 million years?

Math confounds me anymore. My "common sense" says it must be like 100 million years, but I don't know...

[painshill]

Hi Bev

It is confusing because there is a “long scale” and a “short scale” in operation according to where you live in the world. For the long scale a billion is a million millions… ie 1,000,000,000,000 and that’s used by many non-English-speaking countries.

English-speaking countries (and some non-English) use the short scale, where a billion is a thousand millions… ie 1,000,000,000. That’s also the convention for worldwide scientific publications.

So, if you’re taking 460 feet to be 4.6 billion years then that’s 4,600,000,000 years and each foot equals ten million years (so yes ten feet would be 100 million years).

Heaven help those who live in Canada because French-speakers are accustomed to the long scale whereas English-speaking Canadians are not.

Edited July 27, 2014 by painshill

[Bev]

Thanks Painshill!

I had NO IDEA math could be different in different cultures! I thought that was the only absolute.

[Wrangellian]

I thought it was USA+France that used the short scale and Britain+Germany used the long scale.

Anyway I do like the short - much easier to refer to 'billions' than 'million millions' or 'thousand millions' or whatever - the long has always confused me!

[painshill]

I thought it was USA+France that used the short scale and Britain+Germany used the long scale.

Anyway I do like the short - much easier to refer to 'billions' than 'million millions' or 'thousand millions' or whatever - the long has always confused me!

Most of Western and Eastern Europe plus most Spanish-speaking and French-Speaking former colonial nations use the long scale, as does half of Africa, the Middle East and Australasia. The Balkan States and Russia are on short. SE Asian and Far Eastern countries use neither. The UK originally used long, then we used both for a while and then switched to the short scale in 1974. It's been a bit like our switch to the metric system. We've been "going metric" since 1849 and still haven't arrived. Beer is still in pints. My mother still says: "how much is that that in old money?"

[Auspex]

So...if I make lots of money in a short scale country, I'd be much wealthier moving to one using long scale?

[Missourian]

As it happens, I had posted the picture below on another thread earlier today:

Beer1.jpg

Maybe need to change it from beer to soda, milkshake or something!

I make it to the Hadean Eon every time....

[Wrangellian]

Most of Western and Eastern Europe plus most Spanish-speaking and French-Speaking former colonial nations use the long scale, as does half of Africa, the Middle East and Australasia. The Balkan States and Russia are on short. SE Asian and Far Eastern countries use neither. The UK originally used long, then we used both for a while and then switched to the short scale in 1974. It's been a bit like our switch to the metric system. We've been "going metric" since 1849 and still haven't arrived. Beer is still in pints. My mother still says: "how much is that that in old money?"

Interesting.. I'm used to the older folks saying "how much is that in inches" or "pounds" or "how much is that on the understandable scale" speaking of Fahrenheit, but I can't imagine saying that about money!

I guess it was France/US and Britain/Germany in the old days... looks like everyone will use the short soon.

[painshill]

Interesting.. I'm used to the older folks saying "how much is that in inches" or "pounds" or "how much is that on the understandable scale" speaking of Fahrenheit, but I can't imagine saying that about money!

I guess it was France/US and Britain/Germany in the old days... looks like everyone will use the short soon.

Yes... it was quite a shock moving from a pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence to: a pound = 100 (new) pence.

(correction to above... Australasia is also on the short system).

[othermeans]

Here's a couple of useful and more detailed resources:

ftp://ftpdata.dnr.sc.gov/geology/Education/PDF/Geologic%20Time.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth

Thanks so much for these links they really help in understanding the geology of pangea.

[Wrangellian]

Bev, I don't know how far you've gotten with this since our tangent we went off above, but if you use 460' then 1' = 10 million years (then you have to say 1/10 of a foot = 1 million.. not convenient to use inches there because 1" would = 83 333.3 yrs...)

If you times that by 10 to use 4600' then 1' = 1 million years

If you want to go metric, if you use 1cm = 1 million years, then 10 meters = 1 billion years, and 46 meters = 4.6billion. (Or times everything by 10 to get 460 meters total, where 1cm=100 000 years and 1mm = 10 000yrs)

(anybody correct me if I'm wrong, I've never been great at math either)

Edited August 8, 2014 by Wrangellian

[tmaier]

I made these graphs many years ago to show the porportional relationship of life on earth. Most of the time charts you see are compressed or logarithmic, so I decided to flatten it out myself...