How much do you know about the planet you live in? Humanity has made a huge step up from the concept that the Earth is flat to the scientifically valid fact that Earth is just a sandstone among the hundreds of billions of stars and planets on the edge of our galaxy. If you were looking for interesting facts about Earth then this article is for you.
1. It is unusual that all the planets of the solar system except ours have names from Greek or Roman mythology.
2. Earth as a planet appeared over 4.5 billion years ago. Several thousand millions of years have passed since the birth of Earth on the planet, and humans appeared geologically recently, nearly four million years ago.
3. If you compressed Earth’s history to 24 hours, then life would have already appeared at four o’clock in the morning, and terrestrial plants at 10:24 in the evening. Dinosaurs would die out at 11:41 pm as a result of a terrible disaster, and human history would begin only at 11:58:43 PM.
4. From an astronomical point of view, Earth is the best place in space for the origin and maintenance of life. The orbit of the Earth is within the zone with the optimum temperature for water to stay in liquid form, which scientists believe is a required condition for the existence of life.
5. According to various estimates, there are more than 2 billion planets like Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy, which gives us hope that we may not be alone in the Universe.
6. The Earth is not perfectly round, because our planet is constantly rotating, it also affected its shape, the Earth slightly bugles at the equator and a little flattened at the poles.
7. The distance from Earth to the Sun is more than 149.6 million kilometers, and the sunlight reaches the Earth in 8.3 minutes. This means that if the sun had suddenly disappeared, we would have noticed it in just over eight minutes on Earth.
8. If you drill a tunnel through the Earth and then jump into it, it will take you about 42 minutes to reach the other side.
9. By exact calculations, the full rotation around the axis of our planet takes 23 hours and 56 minutes, which is, in fact, slightly shorter than the usual 24 hours. This also applies to the duration of the year, since the rotation around the sun lasts more than 365 days and 6 hours. That is why every four years, another day is added to the calendar (February 29), and we call it a leap year.
10. Every century, day lengths increase by 1.7 milliseconds.
11. An earthquake near Japan in 2011 increased the Earth’s rotational speed and thus reduced the day by 1.8 microseconds.
12. If we did not have the Moon, the day on Earth would last no more than six hours.
13. The Earth orbits the Sun at an average speed of more than 107,000 kilometers per hour.
14. The Earth’s magnetic field has been steadily declining over the last 180 years, especially around Brazil. Were it not for the constant strong magnetic field on Earth, we would all be roasted by cosmic radiation and solar storms.
15. If the sun were the size of a ball, then Jupiter would be the size of a golf ball, and the earth would be as small as a pea. More than 1.3 million planets in size such as Earth can be placed inside of the Sun.
16. If the Earth was about the size of a billiard ball, its surface would be smoother than that of the best billiard balls.
17. According to a well-known inventor from the United States, Raymond Kurzweil, even 0.01% of the sunlight that falls on Earth every day is capable of meeting all of the world’s energy needs.
18. Earth is the only place in the solar system where the complete solar eclipse can be seen.
19. From 10 to 20 volcanoes erupt on Earth every day.
20. Almost all the time, there is a thunderstorm somewhere on Earth. Scientists estimate that more than 750 thunderstorms are raging on our planet every day.
21. Flashes of Lightning hit the Earth’s surface 100 times a second or more than 8.5 million times a day.
22. Every year, scientists detect up to half a million earthquakes, one hundred thousand of which can be experienced even without special devices. Virtually every 5 days on Earth there is an earthquake that can cause different levels of destruction.
23. About 90% of earthquakes in the world occur along the Ring of Fire, an area in the pacific ocean.
24. Although we all know that water occupies a large part of the Earth’s surface, it is only 0.07% by mass and 0.4% by volume on our planet.
25. There is enough gold in the core of the Earth to cover it completely with a layer over 45 cm.
26. 40% of the earth’s surface belongs to six countries.
27. According to WWF (World Wildlife Fund), 40% of wildlife has disappeared on Earth over the last forty years.
