Fun Fact 2: How far is planet earth away from the sun? Earth's distance
from the sun is approximately 150 million Km. It takes the earth 365
days to orbit (travel around) the sun
Fun Fact 3: How big is earth? Compared to most other planets earth is
not very big, it has a diameter of 12,756 km. The largest planet is
Jupiter which has a diameter of about 142,800 kilometers; more than 11
times the diameter of earth!
Fun Fact 4: Earth is unique as it is the only planet in the solar system
that has liquid water on its surface. In fact over 70% of planet earth
is covered by water, which is why it is sometime referred to as the blue
planet
Fun Fact 5: Life exists on earth because of its water and atmosphere,
which is rich in oxygen; without water and oxygen life cannot exist
Fun Fact 6: Earth constantly spins around on it's axis, it takes 24
hours to turn a complete spin, this time span is called a day
Fun Fact 7: What is the difference between the term earth and the world?
The name earth refers to the planet as a physical unit; it is the name
which distinguishes it from the other planets. The world is the name
used to describe the place where the entire human civilisation lives
Fun Fact 8: How old is Earth? Earth was formed over 4.5 billion years
ago; the first signs of life on earth date back to approximately the
first 700 million years of the planets formation
Fun Fact 9: What is earth made of? Earth is a huge ball of rock, made up
of four different layers; inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. The
inner core is in the centre, it is the hottest part of our planet. The
inner and outer cores, mainly consists of iron, the outer core is cooler
in temperature. Mantle is made of hot molten rock, and the crust is the
part we live on; it is made of land and water, the crust floats above
the mantle
Fun Fact 10: What are tectonic plates? Tectonic plates are the flat
slabs of rock that cover the earth's crust. Earth is divided into
several major tectonic plates, and a number of much smaller ones, they
move individually and very slowly all the time. The plate boundary is
where the plates join up; these boundary areas are noted globally for
geological features and happenings e.g. oceanic trenches, mountains,
earthquakes and active volcanos
Fun Fact 11: When a volcano erupts, hot molten rock from the centre of
the earth escapes. Volcanos can occur when earth's tectonic plates move
together
Fun Fact 12: The Earth has only one moon which is called 'The Moon' or
'Luna Moon'. The Moon has a diameter of 3476 km it is the closest
planetary body to us in distance and orbits our planet 384,400 km above
our heads
Fun Fact 13: Planet Earth has two pole regions; the North Pole at the
top and the South Pole at the bottom. As earth orbits the sun the poles
remain icy, cold and generally much darker than the rest of the planet
because the sun cannot reach the pole regions very well
Fun Fact 14: Hundreds of years ago scientists believed that earth was
flat! We have discovered a lot about our planet since then, and we are
discovering more each year. Biologists expect that in the coming years
millions of unknown marine creatures and plants will be discovered!
Fun Fact 15: Planet earth, might not be able to support life
indefinitely, global warming and the change in climate is the biggest
threat to the planets survival, experts estimate that current conditions
should sustain us for at least another 500 million years. Read out facts
sheet on global warming to learn more about the subject of climate
change and the effects of global warming |
