Top definition whale unknown noun; a wealthy patron to a casino, gets paid special attention by a casino host so the patron will feel comfortable to gamble more money.
The age of Earth is approximately one-third of the age of the universe. An immense amount of geological change has occurred in that timespan, accompanied by biological change. Earth formed around 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula. Volcanic outgassing probably created the primordial atmosphere and then the ocean; but the atmosphere contained almost no oxygen and so would have been toxic to most modern life including humans.
This continuous process of precipitation and evaporation is called the water cycle, or hydrologic cycle. It's been going on ever since oceans were formed on this planet 3.8 billion years ago. Earth was formed 4.6 billion years ago, but water was not present at the start. At some point, possibly because of the heating of hydrogen and oxygen as Earth developed, water vapor began to form in the atmosphere. Oceans formed and the cycle began. Seventy percent of Earth is covered by water.