EARTH

Terre-Erde-Chikyu-Tierra-Terra-Gaia

Earth: Facts & Figures

Average Distance from the Sun Metric: 149,597,890 km English: 92,955,820 miles Scientific Notation: 1.4959789 x 108 km (1.000 A.U.) Perihelion (closest) Metric: 147,100,000 km English: 91,400,000 miles Scientific Notation: 1.471 x 108 km (0.983 A.U.) Aphelion (farthest) Metric: 152,100,000 km English: 94,500,000 miles Scientific Notation: 1.521 x 108 km (1.017 A.U.) Equatorial Radius Metric: 6,378.14 km English: 3,963.19 miles Scientific Notation: 6.37814 x 103 km By Comparison: 1 x Earth's Equatorial Circumference Metric: 40,075 km English: 24,901 miles Scientific Notation: 4.0075 x 104 km Volume Metric: 1,083,200,000,000 km3 English: 259,900,000 mi3 Scientific Notation: 1.0832 x 1012 km3 By Comparison: 1 x Earth's Mass Metric: 5,973,700,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg Scientific Notation: 5.9737 x 1024 kg Density Metric: 5.515 g/cm3 Surface Area Metric: 510,065,700 km2 English: 196,937,500 square miles Scientific Notation: 5.100657 x 108 km2 Equatorial Surface Gravity Metric: 9.766 m/s2 English: 32.041 ft/s2 Escape Velocity Metric: 40,248 km/h English: 25,009 mph Scientific Notation: 11,180 m/s Sidereal Rotation Period (Length of Day) 0.99726968 Earth days 23.934 hours Sidereal Orbit Period (Length of Year) 1.0000174 Earth years 365.24 Earth days Mean Orbit Velocity Metric: 107,229 km/h English: 66,629 mph Scientific Notation: 29,785.9 m/s Orbital Eccentricity 0.01671022 Orbital Inclination to Ecliptic 0.00005 degrees Equatorial Inclination to Orbit 23.45 degrees Orbital Circumference Metric: 924,375,700 km English: 574,380,400 miles Scientific Notation: 9.243757 x 108 km Minimum/Maximum Surface Temperature Metric: -88/58 (min/max) °C English: -126/136 (min/max) °F Scientific Notation: 185/331 (min/max) K Atmospheric Constituents Nitrogen, Oxygen Scientific Notation: N2, O2 By Comparison: N2 is 80% of Earth's air and is a crucial element in DNA.

NASA: Destination Earth Video

 

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest in the solar system. 

Earth's diameter is just a few hundred kilometers larger than that of Venus. The four seasons are a result of Earth's axis of rotation being tilted more than 23 degrees.

Visible Planet Orbits
This diagram shows the relative size of the orbits of the seven planets visible to the naked eye. All the orbits are nearly circular (but slightly elliptical) and nearly in the same plane as Earth's orbit (called the ecliptic).
The diagram is from a view out of the ecliptic plane and away from the perpendicular axis that goes through the Sun.
Image Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute

Oceans at least 4 km deep cover nearly 70 percent of Earth's surface. Fresh water exists in the liquid phase only within a narrow temperature span (0 degrees to 100 degrees Celsius). This temperature span is especially narrow when contrasted with the full range of temperatures found within the solar system. The presence and distribution of water vapor in the atmosphere is responsible for much of Earth's weather.

Near the surface, an ocean of air that consists of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and 1 percent other ingredients envelops us. This atmosphere affects Earth's long-term climate and short-term local weather; shields us from nearly all harmful radiation coming from the Sun; and protects us from meteors as well - most of which burn up before they can strike the surface. Satellites have revealed that the upper atmosphere actually swells by day and contracts by night due to solar activity.

Our planet's rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core give rise to a magnetic field, which the solar wind distorts into a teardrop shape. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles continuously ejected from the Sun. The magnetic field does not fade off into space, but has defi- nite boundaries. When charged particles from the solar wind become trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they collide with air molecules above our planet's magnetic poles. These air molecules then begin to glow and are known as the aurorae, or the Northern and Southern Lights.

Credit:ESA

Earth's land surfaces are also in motion. For example, the North American continent continues to move west over the Pacific Ocean basin. Earthquakes result when plates grind past one another, ride up over one another, collide to make mountains, or split and separate. These movements are known as plate tectonics. 

NASA Image

Earth is the only planet whose English name does not derive from Greek/Roman mythology. The name derives from Old English and Germanic. 

Earth's Moon

NASA Image

Earth has only one natural satellite, the Moon, which is 384,000 km (211,265 miles) away.

Earth has a modest magnetic field produced by electric currents in the outer core. The Earth's magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind also produce the Van Allen radiation belts, a pair of doughnut shaped rings of ionized gas (or plasma) trapped in orbit around the Earth. 

The outer belt stretches from 19,000 km in altitude to 41,000 km; the inner belt lies between 13,000 km and 7,600 km in altitude. 

The magnetosphere is that area of space, around the Earth, that is controlled by the Earth's magnetic field.The magnetosphere extends into the vacuum of space from approximately 80 to 60,000 kilometers (50 to 37,280 miles) on the side toward the Sun, and trails out more than 300,000 kilometers (186,500 miles) away from the Sun.

Credit UCAR

Temperature Records

• Highest Temperature: 136°F in El Azizia, Libya on September 13, 1922

• Lowest Temperature: -129°F in Vostok, Antarctica on July 21, 1983

Precipitation Records

• Greatest 12-Month: 1,042 inches in Cherrapungi, India on August 1, 1860 - July 31, 1861

• Lowest Average Annual: 0.03 inches in Arica, Chile

Wettest Location

• 467.4 inches per year in Mawsynram, India

• 463.4 inches per year in Tutunendo, Colombia 

• 460 inches per year in Mount Waialeale, Kauai, Hawaii

Driest Location

• Arica, Chile receives only 0.03 inches of rain annually

NASA TERRA Satellite Global Vegetation Image

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old It is the home of 6 Billion human beings and millions of species. Its is at least 4 1/2 billion years old. It weighs 6.6 sextillion  tons-6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (6E+24) kilograms. 

Earth's Layers

The earth is divided into four main layers: the inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust

• 0- 40 Crust 

• 40- 400 Upper mantle 

• 400- 650 Transition region

• 650-2700 Lower mantle 

• 2700-2890 D'' layer 

• 2890-5150 Outer core 

• 5150-6378 Inner core

Earth's crust is divided into several separate solid plates which float around independently on top of the hot mantle below. The theory that describes this is known as plate tectonics. In geologic terms, a plate is a large, rigid slab of solid rock. The word tectonics comes from the Greek root "to build." Putting these two words together, we get the

 term plate tectonics, which refers to how the Earth's surface is built of plates. The theory of plate tectonics states that the Earth's outermost layer is fragmented into a dozen or more large and small plates that are moving relative to one another as they ride atop hotter, more mobile material. It is characterized by two major processes: spreading and subduction. Spreading occurs when two plates move away from each other and new crust is created by upwelling magma from below. Subduction occurs when two plates collide and the edge of one dives beneath the other and 

ends up being destroyed in the mantle. There is also transverse motion at some plate boundaries (i.e. the San Andreas Fault in California) and collisions between continental plates (i.e. India/Eurasia). 

There are eight major plates:

• North American Plate - North America, western North Atlantic and Greenland 
• South American Plate - South America and western South Atlantic
• Antarctic Plate - Antarctica and the "Southern Ocean"
• Eurasian Plate - eastern North Atlantic, Europe and Asia except for India
• African Plate - Africa, eastern South Atlantic and western Indian Ocean
• Indian-Australian Plate - India, Australia, New Zealand and most of Indian Ocean
• Nazca Plate - eastern Pacific Ocean adjacent to South America
• Pacific Plate - most of the Pacific Ocean (and the southern coast of California)

NASA TERRA Satellite North America Vegetation and Sea Surface Temperature Image

Tallest Mountains

• Mount Everest 8850m (29035ft) Asia 

• Aconcagua 6959m (22831ft) S. America 

• Mount McKinley 6194m (20320ft) N. America 

• Mount Kilimanjaro 5963m (19563ft) Africa 

• Mount Elbrus 5633m (18481ft) Europe 

• Puncak Jaya 4884m (16023ft) Oceania 

• Vinson Massif 4897m (16066ft) Antarctica

The Amazon Rainforest is vanishing at 3 times the rate it was  in 1994. 

About 20% of the Amazon Rainforest is already obliterated

Global emissions of carbon dioxide are expected to double or triple by the year 2030

The U.S. wastes more energy yearly than is consumed by 2/3 of the World

In the World there are 70 million barrels of oil consumed daily of that 20 million are consumed by     the United States

The World's supply of oil will run out in about 80 years

40% of the World's population has no access to electricity

The production of electricity is the number one source of air pollution

Credit: NASA, EPA, USGS,University Corporation for Atmospheric Research