World’s Most Asked Questions: How Old Is Earth?

Ever wonder how old the ground beneath your feet is? SciShow gives a brief explanation.

The Structure Of The Earth

Want to know a little more about what’s beneath your feet? It’s Okay To Be Smart has you covered.

So, How About That Napa Earthquake, Bay Area?

Hey, folks. Sorry if I’ve gone a little silent the last couple of days. It’s just that there was some stuff going down behind the scenes…like being right next to the epicenter of the biggest Bay Area earthquake in 25 years. Not going into any specifics on the location, but I’m roughly fifteen minutes out of ground zero. So when things started shaking, it felt like someone was ramming a big rig into the house. As I was asleep, I didn’t have time to run for a door frame; all I could do was duck and cover under the blankets and protect my head with some pillows. Not very fun. Lots of shelves fell, as well as about a fifty books in my immediate library. For all you bookworms out there, a book avalanche isn’t as fun as it sounds. One light fixture – a glass antique that’s been in use for at least 70 years – collapsed and shattered. Only a few things on the wall fell, though at least one closet is going to have to be completely rearranged. We were temporarily barricaded out of our back pantry because so much stuff had fallen inside. Then there’s the upstairs office/storage room:

And no, it doesn’t normally look like that.

However, that’s the worst of it. There’s only some slight buckling on our back deck. For a while, I was afraid the house would collapse; this place is a century old, after all. We were very, very fortunate to have our electricity and water still running, as well as no signs of any leakage. I made sure to keep the lights on and the place open in case the neighbors needed help, but thankfully only half the block lost power and no one was badly injured. At least one neighbor will have to get his chimney rebuilt, though. A couple of the buildings around here aren’t safe, and there have been several flybys from the news helicopters. It’s okay, things could’ve gone much worse. We’ve just got to get things cleaned up and back to normal.

How about you? Have you been affected by the earthquake?

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