Era

Real World Example

Imagine trying to organize your cluttered garage, where everything is piled up haphazardly over the years. This task is similar to understanding the "era" in geology, which is the second-longest unit of geologic time, divided into more manageable sections called periods. Just as you would sort your garage items into categories like tools, sports equipment, and holiday decorations to make sense of the chaos, geologists divide Earth's history into eras and further into periods to better understand the vast timeline and events of our planet's past.