Unusual Facts About The Earth That Blow Your Mind!

The earth is the third rock from the sun.

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the Solar System with the highest density. It is currently the only known location where life is present.

The Living Planet

Key Facts & Summary About the earth 

• The realization that Earth is a planet, and a planet among many others was established “fairly” recently, in the 17th century – this realization came through by the combined forces of ancient philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers.

• Plato correctly deduced that the Earth is spherical but this idea would take root and be proven much later.

• The name “Earth” – is at least 1.000 years old, and it is a Germanic word which simply translates to “the ground.” It is not known who came up with it but it is the only planet that wasn’t named after a Greek or Roman god.

• However, the Greek equivalent to Earth is Gaia – terra mater – mother Earth, and Roman equivalent was Tellus – the fertile soil.

• Earth is estimated to have formed around 4.5 billion years ago – almost one-third of the age of the universe – through accretion from the solar nebula.

•  Earth is the third planet from the Sun, at a distance of 1 AU or 147 million km / 91 million mi.

• It is the fifth-largest planet in the Solar System, being the largest of the terrestrial planets.

• It has an equatorial radius of 6.371 km / 3.958 mi, and a polar radius of 6.356 km / 3.949 mi, meaning it is not completely spherical but rather bulged at the equator due to rotation.

• The Earth has a diameter of 12.742 km / 7.917 mi.

• Earth has a mass of about 6.6 sextillion tons and a volume of about 260 billion cubic miles / 1 trillion cubic kilometers.

• The surface area of Earth is about 197 million square miles / 510 million square kilometers.

• Around 71% of the surface is covered by water and 29% by land.

• The water is 3% fresh and 97% salt. Of that 3% freshwater, over 2% is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers meaning that less than 1% is fresh water found in lakes, rivers, and the underground.

• In regards to land, the continent of Asia covers about 30% of all the land, having around 60% of the world’s population.

• The atmosphere of Earth is composed of roughly 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.97% argon and carbon dioxide and about 0.04% other gases and water vapor. The mixture of gases is commonly known as air.

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Unusual Facts About The Earth That Blow Your Mind!

• The thickness of the atmosphere is about 60 miles / 96 kilometers.

• The atmosphere of Earth is divided into 6 layers: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere, and ionosphere.

• The highest temperatures on Earth can reach up to more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit / 48 degrees Celsius, and the lowest around -126 degrees Fahrenheit / -88 degrees Celsius, maybe even lower.

• Earth has the greatest density out of all the planets in the solar system – 5.51 g/cm³ – and a gravity of 9.807 m/s² or 1 g.

• This suggests that the Earth’s core is solid, made of iron and nickel about 759 miles / 1.221 kilometers in radius. The temperatures at the core have been estimated to be around 9.800 degrees Fahrenheit / 5.400 degrees Celsius. This is hotter than the surface of the Sun.

• Together with the inner core, Earth also has an outer core, with the crust being the mantle and the thickest layer. It is a viscous mixture of molten rock about 1.800 mi / 2.900 km thick and has the consistency of caramel.

• The outermost layer – Earth’s crust – goes about 19 mi / 30 km deep on average on land. But at the bottom of the ocean, the crust is thinner and extends about 3 mi / 5 km from the seafloor to the top of the mantle.

• Earth has only one satellite – the Moon – and a couple of temporal artificial satellites.

• Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the Sun. The tilt varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees, causing seasons and even chaotic seasons. It changes positions once every 40.000 years.

• Earth completes a rotation/day – from West to Est – once every 23.9 hours. One orbit/year – a trip around the Sun – is completed within 365 days. The Earth’s orbit is elliptical or oval-shaped.

• Earth’s magnetosphere acts as a shield against solar and cosmic particle radiation. It has the shape of a tear-drop reaching 36.000 mi / 57.936 km into space, and it is one of the reasons life has managed to develop.

Since ancient times the Earth was taught to be at the center of the Universe with the other celestial objects orbiting around it. Some believed that the Earth was flat, while the ancient Greeks such as Plato correctly deduced that the Earth was a sphere.

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