ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Geologic Calendar

Okay kiddo, so let's talk about something called a geologic calendar. It's like a really, really big calendar that tells us about the Earth's history.

The Earth is really, really old, like billions and billions of years old. And there have been a lot of important things that happened during that time, like when the first life forms appeared, when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and when humans first started to walk around.

Scientists use something called the geologic calendar to help them understand all of these important events in Earth's history. It's kind of like a timeline of the Earth's past.

The geologic calendar is divided up into different parts, called eras, periods, and epochs. These are like different sections on the calendar that tell us about different times in Earth's history.

For example, the first era on the geologic calendar is called the Precambrian. This was a really, really long time ago, before there were any plants or animals on Earth.

The next era is called the Paleozoic. This is when we start to see the first life forms on Earth, like fish and plants.

Then there's the Mesozoic era, which is sometimes called the "Age of Dinosaurs." This is when the big, scary dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Finally, there's the Cenozoic era, which is when we start to see mammals and eventually humans.

So, the geologic calendar is a really important tool that scientists use to understand the history of the Earth, and all of the amazing things that have happened here over billions of years.