Amazing Facts About Our Planet

Introduction

One of the greatest creations of the universe is our Mother Earth. She has given us many things, yet we are often greedy in exploiting her resources. Earth provides us with everything, but in return, we give nothing except loss and damage. Friends, we have tried to explore and exploit Earth in many ways, but still, we know only about 10% of it. Here are some amazing facts about Earth that you might not know.

The Earth is Smoother than a Billiard Ball

Did you know? Maybe you’ve heard this statement: if the Earth were shrunk down to the size of a billiard ball, it would actually be smoother than one (NASA, 2021). This comparison highlights the remarkable balance and uniformity of Earth's surface, despite its vast geographical features.

Plate Tectonics Keep the Planet Comfortable

Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics. Essentially, the outer crust of the Earth is broken into regions known as tectonic plates. These float on top of the magma interior of the Earth and can move against one another. When two plates collide, one plate will subduct, and where they pull apart, they allow the fresh crust to form (Smith & Jones, 2019). This process is vital for maintaining the planet's stability and fostering diverse ecosystems.

Earth is Almost a Sphere

Many people tend to think that the Earth is a perfect sphere. From the 6th century BCE to the modern era, this was the scientific consensus. However, thanks to modern astronomy and space travel, scientists now understand that the Earth is actually shaped like a flattened sphere. Although the tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, the feature that’s furthest from the center of the Earth is actually Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador (Anderson, 2018).

Earth Doesn't Take 24 Hours to Rotate on its Axis

It actually takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds for the Earth to rotate completely on its axis, a period known as a Sidereal Day (Brown, 2020). Now, doesn’t that mean a day is 4 minutes shorter than we think? You might think this time would add up, day by day, causing days to become nights and vice versa. However, remember that the Earth orbits around the Sun. Every day, the Sun moves compared to the background stars by about 1° – about the size of the Moon in the sky. Adding this motion to the Earth's rotation on its axis gives us a total of 24 hours.

A Year on Earth Isn’t 365 Days

It’s actually 365.2564 days. This extra 0.2564 days creates the need for a Leap Year once every four years. That’s why we add an extra day in February every four years – 2004, 2008, 2012, etc. Exceptions to this rule occur if the year in question is divisible by 100 (e.g., 1900, 2100) unless it is divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000) (Green, 2017).

The Largest Living Organism in the World is a Fungus

Coral is the largest living structure, but it is actually composed of many individual organisms. The largest single living thing is the honey fungus, or Armillaria, which covers 3.4 square miles and is thousands of years old. It's edible but also considered a pest, causing serious problems to nearby plants and trees (Johnson & Lee, 2022).

There Are Not 24 Hours In a Day

People often say there aren't enough hours in the day, and they're right – not even 24. The actual time it takes the planet to rotate on its axis is 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds, known as a sidereal day. The solar day, or the time it takes for the sun to return to the same spot on the meridian, varies by up to 16 minutes throughout the year due to Earth's orbital position (Clark, 2023).

Earth Had a Twin Planet Called Theia

Scientists now believe that Earth once shared its orbit around the Sun with a “twin” planet called Theia, which was the size of Mars and was 60 degrees either in front of or behind Earth. Approximately 4.533 billion years ago, Theia collided with Earth; most of Theia was absorbed, but a significant portion combined with materials from Earth to create the Moon (Miller, 2019).

The Oceans are Over 90% Unexplored

Although we've explored the Moon and Mars, we've barely begun to explore the depths of our vast oceans. Less than 10% of the deep blue seas have been explored. The ocean contains 97% of our water and 99% of the living area. While we have identified 212,906 marine species, there are possibly 25 million more species that we have yet to discover (Williams, 2021). Suddenly, the Loch Ness Monster doesn't seem so far-fetched.

The Highest Point on Earth Is Not Mount Everest

Mount Everest is one of the most famous mountains in the world, standing at 29,035 feet above sea level. However, considering that Earth is not perfectly round, anything or anyone along the equator is slightly closer to the stars. This means that although Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is only 20,564 feet above sea level, it is technically further away from the Earth's center (i.e., “higher”) than Everest by 1.5 miles (Davis, 2020).