It is difficult for people to grasp the concept of geologic time. So James C. Rettie devised the following scheme to help us understand, which he called "The most amazing movie ever made."

Imagine someone making a time lapse movie of the earth, taking one frame each year. When the movie is shown, it will be run at the normal speed, 24 frames a second. Thus it is possible to show 24 years of earth's history every second. This film will be shown continuously, night and day, for a year, starting at midnight on New Years Day.

It is possible, in this length of time, to show only the last one-sixth of the earth's history (the last 757 million years).

For the first 3 months, the movie runs without showing any signs of life whatsoever on the earth.

By April, the first single celled amoeba-like animals appear ine sea, soon followed by multicellular animals like corals and sponges.

Late in the month of May, we see the first vertebrates, fishes.

It isn't until August, the first vertebrate animals, amphibians, crawl unto the land.

In late September we see our first reptiles, and soon after, one group, the dinosaurs, gain prominence over all other life. Their reign ends as the Rocky Mountains begin to rise from the shallow sea late in November.

By December birds appear, and mammals start to dominate the life of the continents. By December 25, the Colorado River is beginning to form and cut a great canyon in the southwest part of North America.

It isn't until early in the morning of December 31, that we get our first glimpse of man

During the afternoon of this last day, the ice caps advance and retreat, carving the surface of the land into the shape we are now familiar with.

Very late in the evening of December 31st, we see humans who use stone implements, and cultivate the soil

Dec 31, 11:45:00 pm, we have the human's "Dawn of civilization".

Dec 31, 11:58:40 pm, the Christian era begins.

Dec 31, 11:59:40 pm, Columbus discovers America.

Dec 31, 11:59:51 pm, The Declaration of Independence is signed.

The First and Second World Wars, the Space Age, and Disco all occupy the final three seconds of this year-long movie that shows only the last one-sixth of the earth's history