We all know Earth is old, but it is hard to put into perspective just how old it is.
Business Insider, however, has done an incredible job of it in this 3-minute animation, by depicting the timeline of the planet if time was the distance from Los Angeles to New York. And our world-view will never be the same.
We begin our journey in Los Angeles, back when Earth first formed 4.54 billion years ago. However, we don't get very far on our road trip through time and space before the Moon shows up after a planetary body hits the Earth.
Around halfway across the top of Arizona, the largest rock in the world forms 3.95 billion years ago, and a few miles down the road – about 3.8 billion years ago – the first evidence of life appears in the form of replicating molecules.
Yet it isn't until Kansas, 2.7 billion years ago, when oxygen-producing cyanobacteria first emerge, and 200 million years later, that large amounts of oxygen build up in Earth's atmosphere.
Then, it isn't until Pennsylvania – halfway across the country – that multicellular organisms evolve, 600 million years ago.
A lot happens in Pennsylvania, such as plants colonizing the land and amphibians evolving. By the time dinosaurs become extinct, we are already in New York State.
So where do humans fit in?
Watch the video below to find this out, and let's just say it will blow your freaking mind. Particularly when you see how much we've done in just 5.6 feet (1.7 meters) of time.
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