Interesting facts About Earth

Earth, our home planet, is a world unlike any other. The third planet from the sun and the only planet known to maintain life. The radius of the earth is 3,959 miles and is also the fifth largest planet in our solar system. It is only one planet where you have found liquid water on its surface. The origins of our home planet and some of the key ingredients that help make this blue speck in space a unique global ecosystem. In this article, we discuss interesting facts about the earth. Here we go;

1. Earth revolves around the sun

The Earth moves in two different ways. Earth orbits the sun once a year and rotates on its axis once a day. The Earth’s orbit makes a circle around the sun. Earth revolves around the sun at an average speed of 27(17 mi) km per second, but the speed is not constant. The planet moves slower when it is at aphelion and faster when it is at perihelion. Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. With the completion of 365 days, the new year arrives. Within every four years, there will be a leap year that has 367 days.

In other words, if the sun is visible in the morning starting around 6:00 AM, the Earth will spin completely around by the next morning at 6:00 AM and you will see the sun in about the same place.

2. Earth's rotation causes observable patterns like night and day.

The light from the sun shines on half of the earth at any given time. That side is warmer and brighter. The other earth's face sides are cooler and darker and it is away from the sun. Since the earth is always spinning, there is a line between day and night that we pass through each day.

Another pattern caused by the earth's rotation is the length of our shadows. Shadows are longer in the afternoon than at noon. If you observe the shadows and their appearance throughout the day you can get some information to estimate the time.

It is important to remember that the sun doesn't travel across the sky. It looks that way because the earth is spinning.

3. Earth’s orbit causes some stars to be visible only in certain months.

Another pattern we can observe due to the earth's orbits around the sun has to do with the constellation. At the night the sky is seen differently throughout the year because we only see one direction ie; away from the sun. As the earth orbits our view also changes. This is why we see the different constellations at different times of the year. It is also one of the Interesting facts About Earth earth.

4. Earth is Almost a Sphere:

Many people think that the earth is a sphere. In fact, between the 6th century BCE and the modern era, this remains the scientific consensus. Different scientists give the image of earth that it is actually in a flattened sphere( aka. an oblate spheroid). The shape is similar to the sphere, but where the poles are flattened and the equator bulges.

5. Earth is Mostly Iron, Oxygen, and Silicon:

Earth is rich in different types of ore. We found different types of material on the earth. If you could separate the earth into piles of the material then you get 32.1% iron, 30.1% oxygen,15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium. Iron is one of the most found ores on earth. Most iron is located at the core of the earth. In the down core of the earth, you found the maximum percentage of iron. If you sampled the earth's crust then you'd find that 47% of it is oxygen.

6. 70% of the Earth's Surface is covered in water:

Earth is the only planet in the solar system that is so much rich in water. About 70% of our planet is covered by oceans. The remaining 30% is the solid crust that is located above sea level. Earth is also called a Blue planet because you can see the earth as blue when you look at it from space. It is also one of the Interesting facts About Earth earth.

7. The Earth’s Atmosphere Extends to a Distance of 10,000 km:

We study that the earth's atmosphere is thickest within 50 km from the surface or so, but actually, the earth's atmosphere extends about 10,000 km into space. It is made up of five main layers -the Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. As we study the air pressure and density decrease the higher altitude but at the surface of the atmosphere, it becomes normal or more accessible. About 75% of the earth's atmosphere is contained within the first 11 km above the planet's surface. However, the outermost layer (the exosphere) is located at the top of the thermosphere at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level to 10,000 km. The exosphere merges with the emptiness of outer space where there is no atmosphere.

The exosphere is mainly composed of the extremely low density of hydrogen, helium, and other several heavier molecules including oxygen and carbon dioxide. On the surface of the exosphere, mainly jet plane travel.

8. The Earth’s Molten Iron Core Creates a Magnetic Field:

Earth is like a great big magnet, with poles at the top and bottom near the actual geographic poles. The magnetic field extends a thousand kilometres out from the surface of the earth forming the regions of the ''magnetosphere''. Scientists study the nature of the magnetic field and find out that the magnetic field is generated by the molten outer core of the earth, where heat creates convection motions of conducting materials to generate electric current.

Without the Magnetosphere the particles from the Sun’s solar wind would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts of radiation. Instead, the magnetosphere channels the solar wind around the earth and protects us from harm. Scientists also theorized that Mars has a thin atmosphere having a weak magnetosphere compared to earth which allowed the solar wind to slowly strip it away.

9. Earth has 1 moon and 2 Co-Orbital Satellites:

You have a study that earth has 1 moon. But did you know that there are 2 additional asteroids locked into co-orbital orbits with the earth? They're 3753 Cruithne and 2002 AA29, which are part of a larger population of asteroids known as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). The asteroid is known as 3753 Cruithne measures 5 km across and is sometimes called "Earth's second Moon". It does not orbit the earth but has a synchronized orbit with our home planet. It is following its own, distinct path around the sun.

Meanwhile, 2002 AA29 is only 60 meters across and makes a horseshoe orbit around the Earth that brings it close to the planet every 95 years.

10. Earth is the Only Planet Known to Have Life:

Earth is the only place life has been discovered. On no other planet in the universe, life has been discovered. scientists are building experiments that will help find life on other planets. Many companies are trying to settle down human creatures on other planets.

But Naturally, only earth is the only planet known to have lived till now. This is because it has two very important things that living creatures need to survive – lots of oxygen and lots of water! Its distance from the sun means it’s not too hot and not too cold for creatures to live on, too. This is also a fact that Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to support life.

some other Interesting facts About Earth earth

• Its name comes from the old English and Germanic words meaning ‘the ground’.
• By researching our planet’s rocks, scientists have calculated the Earth to be around 4.5 billion years old. 
• The Earth is tilted 23.4 degrees on its ‘axis’, an imaginary line straight through the middle of the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole.
• Earth's gravity isn't uniform
• Earth is not flat, but it's not perfectly round either
• The hottest recorded temperature location on the Earth is in El Azizia, Libya with temperatures hitting 136 degrees F/57.8 degrees C in 1922.
• The coldest temperature location is in Antarctica with temperatures reaching -100 degrees F/-73 degrees
• The Earth is also moving through the solar system at around 67,000 mph/107,826 kph.

Do you know the Interesting facts About Earth earth?

• Earthquakes are the result of tectonic plate movement on the planet. The largest earthquake recorded in the U.S. was in 2016 in Alaska, registered at 9.2 on the Richter Scale; with the largest global earthquake recorded in 1960 in Chile, registering 9.5 on the Richter Scale.
• The average temperature of the Earth year-round is around 61°F (16.1°C).
• Light travels from the Sun to the Earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds.
• The Earth’s solid iron core is surrounded by a fluid ocean of hot, liquid metal, that creates electric currents and consequently generates a magnetic field.
• About 800,000 years ago if you were to have stood facing what we call North now (by compass), you would have been facing South.
• The Earth is hottest when it is furthest from the Sun in its orbit, not when it is closest.
• Along with orbiting around the Sun at 66,600 mph, the Earth is also rotating at its axis at about 1,070 miles per hour.
• Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
• On the Earth's surface, the oceans and the continents form the stage on which the evolution of life takes place. The atmosphere above the surface circulates, producing the daily weather.

11. Our earth is always changing

Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago, and it has been changing ever since. Sometimes the change is seen very fast. An earthquake can split the ground in a few seconds. Lava from a volcanic eruption can spread over the side of a volcano in minutes. A heavy rainstorm can flood a neighbourhood in a day. These changes are easy to see. But most of the change happens slowly we notice them at all. The continents slowly creep across the surface of Earth at an average speed of eight centimetres a year. Over hundreds of millions of years, mountains form, and then slowly erode. Thus scientists found the fact that the earth is always changing.

12. On earth all rocks are made of minerals

Rocks are different from each other because they have different types of minerals in them. Scientists study the different rocks and identify rocks that are made of different compositions of minerals. For example, sandstone is made of the mineral quartz. A rock with the mineral garnet probably formed deep in Earth, like under a mountain, The rock granite contains quartz too, but it also has other minerals like mica and feldspar. A rock with the mineral muscovite probably formed on land.

In this article, we discuss interesting facts about the earth. Earth is the dynamic planet that we call home. It formed over 4.5 billion years ago. You get some ideas after studying this article about the earth. If you have queries about the earth then you can free comments.