Introduction
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object know to harbor life. About 29% of Earth’s surface is land consisting of continents and island. The remaining 71% is covered with water by ocean.
A day on Earth isn’t actually 24 hours
we all know a day on Earth is 24 hours, but this is slightly wrong. Since the Earth is rotating and orbiting the sun , it creates a slight difference in the, making the lenght of a day actually be 23 hours and 56 minutes long.
Hottest temperature on Earth
On September13, 1922, a temperature of 136 F was recorded at El Azizia, Libya. This was eventually certified by the World meteorological organization as the hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth.
Earth is old
Researchers calculate the age of the Earth by dating both the oldest rocks on the planet and meteorites that have been discovered on the Earth (meteorites and Earth formed at the same time, when the solar system was forming). Their findings? Earth is about 4.54 Billion years old.
Earth isn’t perfectly round
Earth is thicker around the equator, the belt around the middle. How much thicker? Well, it’s about 0.3% thicker. it’s not much, so much you see a photo of Earth, it appears round. But it’s just barely not.
Days are getting longer.
When Earth first formed 4.6 billion years ago, a day was six hours long. Since then, the Earth has slowed down. It take longer to spin around. Every 100 years, the day gets 0.0017 seconds longer. why? The moon is slowing down Earth’s rotation with the tides it creates. As the tides rise and fall all over Earth, it creates a force that slow down Earth’s rotation
The driest place on Earth is near the ocean
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest place on Earth. It is said that a city there went without rain for 400 years! And yet, this desert is right next to the biggest body of the water on Earth, the pacific Ocean.
Earth is the the only plant not named for a mythological god or goddess
The other seven planets in the solar system were named after Roman gods or goddess. For the five visible to the naked eye, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn they we named during ancient times. This Roman method was also used after the discovery of Uranus and Neptune. The word “Earth” comes from the old English word “earth” meaning ground of land
The first life on Earth developed in the oceans
The first life on Earth developed in the ocean through a process called abiogenesis or biopoiesis. This is a natural process in which life grows from non-living matter like simple organic compounds
The planet moves around the sun
the Earth isn’t just spinning, it’s also moving the sun at 67,000 miles (107,826 km) per hour.
Largest Earthquake in the Earth
On May 22, 1960 near Valdivia, in southern Chile. it was assigned a magnitude of 9.5 by the united States Geological Survey. It is referred to as the “Great Chilean Earthquake” and the “1960 Valdivia Earthquake”
