How did water originate?

Answer

Dear Jeff,

Earth, our planet, was created about 4.5 billion years ago. It was created by numerous meteorites that collided and stuck together in our solar system. Meteorites are a type of rocks that fly around in space. The young Earth was at first too hot to have liquid water on its surface. But the chemical elements needed to form water were already in the interior of the Earth. These are hydrogen and oxygen. Together they form water. When our planet’s outer crust cooled enough, water could emerge from the planet’s interior. This is how the early oceans came into being. Some of the water was added later by collisions with asteroids that brought in water from space. Asteroids, a kind of large meteorites, that still fly around in space today also contain frozen water, just like meteorites.