00:00Ever wondered what Earth would look like if it was split evenly between land and water?
00:05I mean, like, 50% land and 50% ocean.
00:09Like a cosmic pizza with just two toppings split equally.
00:13First things first, we all know that water is essential for life.
00:19That's why scientists search for water on other planets to find potential life.
00:24On our own planet, water covers about 71% of its surface, with most of it found in the
00:30oceans.
00:31What if we took away almost a quarter of that water and replaced it with land?
00:37If we did balance out the land to water ratio, we would see some pretty drastic changes.
00:43Due to the sea level drop, regions around the North and South Poles would dry up completely.
00:49Meanwhile, every continent on the planet would expand to reveal an enormous amount of new
00:55territory.
00:56This would be equivalent to the current surface areas of Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America
01:02combined.
01:04Imagine all those new vacation spots you could explore with all that land.
01:10This shift in the ratio of land and water wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows though.
01:16With much less water covering the surface, our ocean currents would get messed up, leading
01:21to a destabilized climate.
01:24This would mean colder temperatures around the poles and even hotter temperatures in
01:28the already scorching equatorial regions.
01:32Rain levels would drop, creating dangerous droughts and new deserts in many inland areas.
01:39Let's not forget about the creatures living on Earth.
01:42Plants, animals, and humans would all need to adapt to being less dependent on water.
01:49Some animals may even evolve to be smaller or switch to a strictly carnivorous diet due
01:55to water scarcity.
01:57And sadly, lots of life forms in our current oceans would struggle to survive, which would
02:02be a huge bummer for all the fish lovers out there.
02:07Let's try to imagine a totally different scenario for our planet next.
02:11Back in 1884, the press reported on an astronomer who claimed to have discovered a cubic planet
02:18beyond Neptune.
02:20We've sure come a long way since then.
02:23We've come to know that in our universe, there's no possibility of planets being square, at
02:28least based on the information we have today.
02:32Let's travel back in time to 4.5 billion years ago when our own planet was just a hot mess
02:38of gas and dust.
02:40As this chaotic cloud collapsed, a hot star formed and began to attract all nearby matter
02:47with its gravitational pull.
02:49Eventually, a rotating disk formed around the star, and collisions between particles
02:55led to the formation of massive bodies, planets.
03:00And because gravity pulls equally from all sides towards the center, planets naturally
03:05take a spherical shape.
03:08But what if we spiced things up and skewed the distribution of gravity?
03:12Well, if you're feeling adventurous and want to live life on the edge, then welcome
03:17to the cube earth!
03:19Yay!
03:20We'd have six sides now, but don't get too excited.
03:23None of them would be any fun.
03:25You'd constantly feel like you're climbing up a steep hill, no matter where you go.
03:30That's because gravity is strongest at the center of each face, so the further away you
03:35were from the center, the stronger pull you'd feel.
03:39Say goodbye to taking standing tall for granted.
03:43If you found yourself on the edges of the cube earth, you'd find no lush and vibrant
03:49landscapes.
03:50All the water would pool at the center of each face, leaving the edges rocky and barren.
03:56And forget about breathing easily, the atmosphere along the edges and corners would be too thin
04:02or non-existent to support life.
04:05But we'll come back to that later.
04:08The climate on the cube earth would depend on how it would rotate.
04:12If it spun on an axis through two faces, then the climate would be similar to what we have
04:18on earth now, but more extreme.
04:21The top and bottom faces would be polar, while the other four would enjoy an equatorial climate.
04:27However, if the cube earth rotated through its corners, each side would have a climate
04:33with more moderate temperatures and precipitation.
04:36Say goodbye to extreme weather, but also wave goodbye to your equatorial paradise.
04:43On the bright side, you would probably be able to walk into outer space.
04:49Since the atmosphere is held down by gravity, and gravity would now be pulling towards the
04:54center of each face, the atmosphere would be thicker there and thinner towards the edges.
05:01If the cubic earth had the same volume as our round world today, its sharp corners would
05:06poke out beyond our atmosphere, creating unprotected and uninhabitable areas.
05:12But who says you wouldn't be able to rent a spacesuit and stand on top of the world
05:16and outside of it at the same time?
05:19Talk about taking your vacation to new heights!
05:23How about if our planet was completely covered with water?
05:27Well, it turns out that ancient earth might have been just that, a water world!
05:32According to some researchers, our planet was mostly covered with oceans about 3 billion
05:38years ago, with only a few scattered islands popping up here and there.
05:45The scientists who made this discovery have been studying rock samples found in Western
05:50Australia.
05:51By analyzing these rocks, they were able to determine that they formed in a hydrothermal
05:56vent system on the seafloor over 3 billion years ago.
06:01This information could have some major implications for how we understand the origin and evolution
06:07of life.
06:08See, scientists still have a lot of questions about where Earth's water came from and when
06:14it appeared, but by studying these ancient rocks, they're hoping to get some answers.
06:21One way they're doing this is by looking at the oxygen found in the rocks.
06:26You see, water with different values of oxygen can tell us a lot about the environment in
06:32which it formed, and the researchers found that the rocks from 3 billion years ago had
06:37heavier oxygen content than we see in our modern oceans.
06:42This suggests that at that time, dry land hadn't emerged yet, which means that Earth
06:48was mostly covered in water.
06:51Now this might not seem like a big deal, but it could actually help us understand how life
06:57first formed on Earth.
07:00If our planet was completely covered with water when the first single-celled organism
07:04emerged, then they probably didn't form on land.
07:08And if that's the case, it could mean that other water-covered planets might be ideal
07:14places to search for life.
07:17Our planet may never be fully covered in water ever again, but we might end up losing
07:23some, if not all, of our planet's hydration.
07:26Here's the deal, the sun is going to get hotter over the next few hundred million years.
07:32This isn't anything to do with humans and our shenanigans, it's just a natural thing
07:36that happens with all stars.
07:39The bad news is that the sun gets hotter, our planet is going to heat up too.
07:44And if things get really toasty, we're going to start losing our oceans to evaporation.
07:50Sure we've got plenty of time to hit the beach before that happens.
07:55Experts have been working hard on a super fancy computer model to predict exactly when
08:00all this is going to go down.
08:03And according to them, we've got around 1 billion years until things get seriously steamy.
08:10You might be wondering how they came up with that number.
08:13It turns out that when the sun gets hotter, it makes the atmosphere warmer too.
08:18And as the atmosphere warms up, more and more water evaporates from the oceans.
08:23There's a catch though, water vapor is actually a greenhouse gas, which means it traps heat
08:28and makes things even hotter down there on the surface.
08:32As we lose more and more water, we're going to end up in a loop where the planet just
08:37keeps getting hotter and hotter until there's no water left at all.
08:42Hey, it's not all about us.
08:44This research could actually help us find other planets with liquid water.
08:49By figuring out what kinds of conditions are needed to keep water on a planet, we might
08:53be able to identify some other hospitable worlds out there.
08:58And who knows, maybe in a billion years, we'll have colonized one of those planets.
09:03That's it for today.
09:04So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
09:08friends.
09:09And if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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