Planet Earth. Our home Home for all humanity;
home for all the various kinds of life
that roam its lands and swim through its seas, and fly its spacious skies.
But have you fully appreciated the privileged place you call home?
Daily life may not seem easy, but why is life even possible at all?
Practically every physical parameter of our planet affects life,
and every parameter has an impact on the others.
If one parameter were different-- a fraction larger or a fraction smaller--
then all parameters would need adjusting to try and maintain balance,
but the problem is that for life to exist
each physical condition must also fit within the narrowest of ranges.
Too far out of range, and life’s possibility is completely lost.
Earth exists as a privileged planet.
One easy example for the balance of Earth’s parameters
can be seen in our distance from the Sun.
Our world is a relatively warm, rocky-bodied, water-covered, oxygen-bearing planet.
What would Earth look like if we orbited our Sun at a different distance?
Well, our own Solar System gives us insight.
Closer to the Sun and we might look like the barren,
cratered, radiation blasted world of Mercury
or the greenhouse-gas enshrouded, continuously hot landscape of Venus.
No, the radiation intensity of our Sun means we need to orbit a good amount of distance away.
But farther is not always better.
If we orbited out near where the planet Mars resides,
then our water-vapor atmosphere would freeze
being unable to keep its moisture and its structure.
At the distance of Mars, the Sun’s warming light and heat would be reduced by over half,
causing the majority of Earth’s liquid water to be frozen sheets of ice.
Earth’s orbital path is in what astronomers call the
Habitable Zone or sometimes its called the Goldilocks Zone,
because it is just right for the balance of life’s necessities.
But, it’s not just Earth’s position that is privileged
because our planet still orbits a nuclear factory of sorts:
Our Sun--the nearest star.
It is thought to derive its energy from nuclear fusion in its core
causing immense amounts of radiation to flow out to its gaseous surface
which in turn spews large amounts of heated matter into its atmosphere.
In fact, every day huge quantities of highly energized particles
stream outward from the Sun through the entire Solar System.
How is it that with this immense amount of radiation and high-speed, charged particles
blasting toward Earth, that humanity is not in constant danger from this solar barrage?
How is it that we are more concerned about a few clouds gathering in the sky,
than the enormous stream of solar radiation?
The answer is Earth has been designed to exist right where it is.
It has been equipped with multiple layers of protection--a custom-made cocoon of safety.
And this cocoon of safety actually begins protecting Earth,
tens of thousands of miles away.
The first layer in Earth’s defense comes from the fact we have a powerful magnetic field.
The same physical process that helps a compass to always point toward the North magnetic pole
also forms a magnetic field that surrounds the Earth.
This magnetic field serves as a shield, forcing highly energized particles away from Earth.
As the energized particles hit the magnetic field, the largest portion of them
are deflected around and onward into space.
A few particles become trapped in the magnetic field
and they're funneled inward from space toward the Earth’s poles,
where they interact with the upper atmosphere releasing their energy in the form of light
and we see as them as the auroras-- the Northern and Southern Lights.
Now a second layer of defense designed for life’s preservation can be seen in Earth’s ozone layer.
This layer of the atmosphere is composed of a special arrangement of three oxygen atoms
that form the one molecule: ozone.
This layer effectively filters the most dangerous forms
of ultraviolet radiation in the Sun’s spectrum.
This form of radiation would be extremely harmful to life, especially humans,
if it were not greatly reduced by this layer in our atmosphere.
Ultraviolet light still passes through the atmosphere,
but at much different levels than above the atmosphere.
Much of what astronomers know about the ultraviolet radiation from distant objects
in space has only been discovered in the last few decades,
because Earth’s atmosphere is so good at filtering this form of radiation.
It took space telescopes and probes launched outside the atmosphere to fully detect it.
The third layer of defense relates to the overall structure and density of our atmosphere.
Earth’s atmosphere is structured in such a way as to serve multiple functions,
including layers dense enough to absorb X-rays and ultraviolet rays,
an ionized layer to protect from charged particles,
layers with very little internal movement, and layers with large amounts of convective currents.
The overall density of the atmosphere is enough to maintain good percentages of oxygen and
water vapor but not so thick that the cycles of life would be disrupted.
Now we can see from Earth’s protective layers, to its privileged position
to every physical parameter that defines our planet,
Earth was designed by the intelligent Creator to be just right for life--
to not only exist but to live and thrive.
As described in the Bible in the book of Genesis, God focused during the Creation Week on creating
and preparing Earth to be an inhabited world.
During days one to four, God made water, air, land, plant life, the Sun, and the Moon,
all of which are vitally important to the existence of humanity.
We see from Proverbs 3:19 that “The Lord by wisdom founded the Earth,”
“by understanding He established the heavens.”
The book of Isaiah tells us that God “did not create it in vain,”
but “formed it to be inhabited.”
God made Earth as a privileged planet, as the habitable home for human life.
He placed our planet at the perfect distance from the Sun,
gave it a life-sustaining atmosphere that protects us from harmful solar radiation,
and surrounded Earth with a protective magnetic field
that deflects dangerous charged particles from space.
Surely we can say there is no better home for humanity
anywhere throughout the heavens or beyond the stars.