Interesting Facts About Earth

Life as we know it exists only on the Earth. It’s a known fact. It may yet exist on some other planetary body but scientists believes—if and when they come around an existence of non-Earthly life form—it is likely to be in the form of bacteria or microorganisms to something more complex than us, humans. All this is hypothesis of course; bring the shuttle of your imagination back to the Earth, the only planet which, of all there are, was chosen by some higher entity or nature if you may, as a home to what it was about to bestow. From the prehistoric Dinosaurs that once walked the Earth to present day animals, from Stone Age humans to the modern day intellectually complex humans, from ice age to the present day rivers, from the believed Pangaea to the 7 continents and 196 countries, and a vast oceanic water body that covers about 70% of the Earth; all this, the transformations and the constants, have been possible not because Earth has all of what it needs, but because it has everything in just the apt quantity, that has allowed life to flourish, to find a way. And this, exactly, is what makes the Earth a unique planet like none other. Cherish it the way you cherish your home. Read on to know more interesting facts about Earth.

Fast Facts

Mean Distance From Sun: 149,597,891 km
Mean Radius: 6,371.00 km
Mean Circumference: 40,030.2 km
Volume: 1,083,206,916,846 km3
Mass: 5.972 x 10²⁴ kg
Density: 5.513 g/cm3
Surface Area: 510,064,472 km²
Surface Gravity: 9.80665 m/s²
Length of Day: 0.99726968 Earth days
Length of Year (Orbital Period): 1.0000174 Earth years
Number of Moons: One
Average Orbit Velocity: 107,218 km/h
Orbit Inclination: 0.00005 degrees
Orbit Circumference: 939,887,974 km
Average Temperature: -87.8˚C (min), 57.8˚C (max)

Interesting And Fun Facts About Earth

• All planets except Earth are named after Roman or Greek Gods and Goddesses; however, Earth got its name from English/German vocabulary where it simply means ‘ground’. Alternatively, Earth is also known as Terra or Sol 3.
• Earth is the densest of all the eight planets, with a density of 5.515 g/cm3.
• Earth is largest of the four solar terrestrial planets in size and mass. The other three terrestrial planets are: Mercury, Venus,and Mars. Of these four planets, Earth also has the highest surface gravity, the strongest magnetic field, and the fastest rotation.
• Earth has the shape of an oblate spheroid, a sphere flattened along the axis from pole to pole such that there is a bulge around the equator. This buldge is due to  rotation of the Earth.
• Due to the bulge around the equator the diameter of the Earth at the equator is 43 km larger than the pole-to-pole diameter.
• As a result of the equatorial bulge, the surface locations farthest from the center of the Earth are the peaks of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador and Huascarán in Peru.
• Nearly 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, with an average depth of 4 km.
• Earth is made of several layers: Magnetosphere, Atmosphere, Lithosphere and Hydrosphere.
• The atmosphere of Earth consists of 78 percent Nitrogen, 21 percent Oxygen and 1 percent other gases. It provides a shield against the harmful radiations from Sun and several meteors as well.
• The orbiting satellites have ascertained that the outer layer of the atmosphere expands during daytime due to heating from the Sun and contracts during night due to cooler temperatures.
• Lithosphere of Earth is divided into number of huge plates including crust and the upper mantle and is moving continuously.
• As a result of the collision, split, separation of these plates, Earthquakes are experienced.
• The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth, meeting Arctic in north and Antarctica in south. It covers about 169.1 million km2 of area, which is more than the total land area of Earth.
• The fresh water exists on Earth within range of temperature varying from 0-100 ˚C, which is much narrow compared to the wide range of temperatures found in the solar system.
• The continents of Earth are large landmasses separated by huge waters. It is believed that millions of years ago these continents were linked with each other forming a large single landmass called Pangaea; however, constant moving of crust may have resulted in their partition.
• The S-shaped basin of Atlantic Ocean, spread between America and Europe/Africa, covers about one-fifth of the planet’s surface.
• The magnetic field of Earth, produced as a result of the rapid rotation of the planet and molten nickel-iron core, has a definite boundary and does not evanesce into space.
• The first weather satellite of Earth, named Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS), was launched by NASA in 1960.
• Landsat 1, formerly known as the Earth Resource Technology Satellite 1, is the first in a series of the Earth-imaging satellites launched in 1972 and is in operation till date.
• In December 1999, a satellite named the Active Cavity Irradiance Monitor Satellite was launched to gauge the solar energy reaching Earth.
• In 2006, the Antarctic ozone hole was discovered, which is the largest one discovered so far.
• In 2009, the most accurate topographic map of Earth was released by NASA and Japan.
• The highest point on the Earth is Mount Everest (8,848 metres high) in the Himalayan mountain ranges.
• ariana Trench ((10,911 m below local sea level) in Pacific Ocean is the deepest point on the Earth.
• Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. It is fifth largest natural satellite of the solar system and is 384,400 km from Earth.
• The rotation of moon on its axis is synchronised with that to Earth’s rotation. That is why we only see the same face of the Moon, always.
• The weather on Earth is governed by the existence and distribution of water vapour in the atmosphere.
• Earth’s equatorial inclination to orbit of 23.44 degrees results into four kinds of seasons: summer, winter, spring and autumn.