How much of Earth's history does the discovery of oil reflect in the 24-hour analogy?

The discovery of oil, when placed in the context of Earth's entire history using a 24-hour analogy, emphasizes how relatively recent this resource is on a geological time scale. In this analogy, if the Earth's history is compressed into a single day, the formation of oil occurs in the last quarter of a second. This illustrates that oil is a product of organic materials that have undergone significant geological processes over millions of years, but it only began to form in relatively modern times compared to the age of the Earth, which is approximately 4.5 billion years.

The significance of the last quarter of a second highlights that while oil is crucial for contemporary energy needs and has played a major role in human development, it is a very recent phenomenon in the grand scheme of Earth's history. This perspective helps to appreciate the limited timeframe in which humans have extracted and utilized oil compared to the planet's vast history.