(The Moon is currently about 384,000 km or 60 Earth radii away from Earth, which is about fifteen times further away than it was when it first formed.) The Moon probably couldn't have formed closer than 3 Earth radii because tidal forces from the Earth would just pull it apart again, and it is unlikely that the impact could have ejected material ...
About 78% of Earthâs atmosphere is made up of nitrogen. Credit: NASA We might commonly think of Earth as having an oxygen-dominated atmosphere, but in reality the molecule makes up only a fifth of our air.
The Earth's atmosphere is mostly composed of nitrogen. Oxygen makes up just 21 percent of the air we breathe. Carbon dioxide, argon, ozone, water vapor and other gasses make up a tiny portion of it, as little as 1 percent. These gasses probably came from several processes as the Earth evolved and grew as a planet. But some scientists believe that the Earth's atmosphere would never have contained the oxygen we need without plants.