When time and distance (among other things) are measured in infinitesimally small or large numbers, they become almost impossible for the average person to visualize.

Distance measurements go from Planck Length (1.6 x 10-35 meters) to Hubble Length (14.4 billion light years), both of which just become too phenomenal to comprehend.

When talking about the age of the Earth, millions and billions of years also seem incomprehensible.

To make the landmarks in the formation of Earth somewhat easier to conceptualize, Alex Kuzoian of Business Insider has prepared a video relating the ages of the Earth to the distance from Los Angeles to New York City.

To begin, Los Angeles is 2,449 miles from New York, equal to 4.54 billion years.

As one travels in a straight line to the east, the moon is formed after only 21 miles, barely out of the city limits of L.A.

It is not until one is 324 miles from NYC (600 million years ago) that multi-cellular organisms form and 250 miles out (465 million years) that plants colonize the land.

Amphibians emerge 370 million years ago (200 miles out) and 135 miles out (250 million years) sees the Permian-Triassic extinction, when 99 percent of all life on Earth dies off.

Dinosaurs show up when the distance has closed to 130 miles (230 million years), and after another 22 miles (200 million years ago), the mighty continent of Pangaea breaks apart to form seven continents.

Thirty-six miles from the city (67 million years ago) is when the mighty Tyrannosaurus evolves though he will become extinct after only one more mile, another one million years gone by.

The city is in sight, only three miles farther and hominins diverge from chimps.

Down to one mile from city center, still 1.8 million years ago, early humans begin crafting cutting tools from stone.

Modern humans don’t evolve until the trip is within 570 feet out (200,000 years ago) and agriculture is not common until one is just 18.5 feet from the end (10,000 years).

At 13.7 feet from destination (5,500 years out) man begins to record his short history with writing.

We’re only 5.6 feet away now. One could get out of the car and jump the final span and it’s the point at which Jesus is crucified.

Columbus sails to North America while we are 1.5 feet from the mark, just over 500 years ago and the Declaration of Independence is signed as we shorten the distance to 8.2 inches.

We’re only a footstep away from our destination now. A great deal has transpired in this incredibly short distance spanning a mere 243 years, at least in our short-term estimation.

Consider: the time span during which humans have populated this little blue orb represents only .0002 percent of the total time the planet has existed. Unless, of course, one subscribes to the calculations of Bishop Usher who ascertained that the earth formed in the year 4004 BCE, in October to be exact.

This excursion has taken the traveler 2,446 miles, all the way to eastern New Jersey, across a vast continent, without ever seeing another human being, moving across a molten globe, through several ice ages, extinctions of complete species and the emergence of many others, and the total absence of man’s influence.

That remaining .0002 percent of time has generated huge change, perhaps to the detriment of mankind and the planet itself.

It will be interesting to see if that .0002 percent ever becomes .0003 percent.

Chuck Witt is a retired architect and a lifelong resident of Winchester. He can be reached at chuck740@bellsouth.net.