29+ Earth Facts: Discovering Our Home Planet! (Free Printables)

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only planet on which life has originated.

Earth is our home and a wonderful planet. Its polar regions retain most of its water, and large ice sheets cover them. Earth is also covered by vegetation.

Earth’s crust lies below the Earth’s surface material, including several tectonic plates that are moving slowly.

However, we still know little about our home planet, Earth. In this article, we will explore some amazing Earth facts.

Amazing Earth Facts

Earth Is Mostly Made of Only Four Elements

If one could grind down, then melt and filter Earth’s entire mass, most of the stuff one would get would be made of just four elements.

Those are oxygen (30.1%), iron (32.1%), magnesium (13.9%), and silicon (15.1%), and the remaining 8.8% is made of everything else.

Most of this iron is located at Earth’s core, and the oxygen and silicon would create something known as silicate (SiO4).

So, if you could sample Earth’s core, it would be 88% iron; if you could get a sample of Earth’s crust, about 46% would be oxygen.

Earth Is Not Completely Spherical

Our Earth is not a perfect sphere. Its shape is known as an oblate spheroid.

But what does this mean? The answer is that our Earth is wider at the equator than its poles; hence, it is a flattened sphere.

This flattened sphere is a result of Earth’s spin about its axis. However, on the planet’s scale, the difference is very small, with Earth’s diameter at the equator around 43 km or 26.7 miles larger than the pole-to-pole diameter.

Earth Is the Only Known Life-Harboring Planet

Until today, the only planet we know with life is our home planet, Earth. This doesn’t imply that other planets don’t have this honor, but scientists haven’t found any signs of it yet.

A Day on Earth Isn’t Actually 24 Hours

Contrary to our belief, a day on Earth isn’t actually 24 hours. In fact, this planet needs 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to rotate around its axis.

This is called the Sidereal Day, which means the time Earth needs to complete one rotation about its axis.

A solar day is the amount of time Earth needs to rotate around its axis so that the Sun can appear in the same location in the sky. So, mainly Earth’s solar day is not 24 hours, but about 4 minutes less than 24 hours.

A Year on Earth Isn’t Exactly 365 Days

While discussing Earth’s passage of time, you might be surprised to know that a year isn’t 365 days. Earth completes one full rotation around the Sun every 365.2564 days.

That extra amount of time is almost a quarter of a day; hence, we get a Leap year every four years.

Earth Is One of The Four Terrestrial Planets

Earth, also called Terra in Latin, is a terrestrial planet. This means that planets in this class are composed of metals or silicate rocks. 

In our solar system, there are four terrestrial planets, including Earth. The other three are Mars, Venus, and Mercury.

Gravity Is Not the Same Everywhere on Earth

The Earth’s gravitational field is not even across the planet. Similar to the differences in the terrain of Earth’s surface, Earth’s gravitational field is also very bumpy.

Though there are various reasons behind this, it is mainly dictated by the distance between the center and the surface of the Earth.

So, on a mountain, Earth’s gravity will decrease slightly. However, larger areas like mountain ranges may have a higher gravitational field because of the increased mass.

Also, Earth’s gravity is weaker at the equator due to the production of centrifugal forces by Earth’s rotation.

Earth’s Crust Is in Constant Motion

The Earth’s crust is not fixed; it is in constant motion and even forever changing. This crust is not a solid mass but a collection of small and large plates or pieces.

The convection currents produced in the mantle’s hot molten rocks constantly pull and push those plates around in a certain procedure called plate tectonics.

These plates have cracks in several places, new rocks are developed, and heavier and older plates sink back into the mantle to become mottled.

In this way, mountain ranges, volcanoes, etc., are created, and disasters like earthquakes happen.

Earth May Have More than One Moon

You may already know that the Moon is our Earth’s only natural satellite. However, this may not be completely true. Two other bodies orbit this planet: 3753 Cruithne and Asteroid 2002 AA29.

In reality, these two are captured asteroids that orbit the Sun but are occasionally positioned very close to Earth. These bodies come close to Earth, like 3.9 miles every 95 years.

Most of Earth’s Freshwater Is Frozen

Though 70% of Earth’s surface is covered with water, just 2.5 % of that is fresh water.

However, that 2.5% is still a good amount of water, not even the entire amount that isn’t freely accessible to live on Earth.

Out of that 2.5% freshwater, about 70% is locked up in ice, while the other 7% is contained in the atmosphere and soil moisture. Only the remaining part is free for life to consume.

The Earth and Moon Are Gradually Separating

Once upon a time, the Moon was much closer to Earth than it is today. Over billions of years, the distance between these two has actually increased.

In fact, the Moon actually moves away from the Earth at about 3.78 cm or 1.48 inches per year.

This means that a month on our planet was shorter in the past and will be a lot longer in the future.

Also, the Moon will break free of Earth’s gravitational influence in about 15 billion years. However, by then, the Sun will have bloated and destroyed Earth.

Lightning Strikes Earth Frequently

Surprisingly, Earth faces about 6000 lightning strikes every single minute, and sometimes, lightning strikes in the same spot twice.

Between 2015 and 2020, Chicago’s Wills Tower was hit 250 times by lightning.

Even lightning may hit people more than once. For example, Park ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times and survived each time.

Most People on Earth Live in Asia

Of the total population of this planet, about 60% can be seen in Asia. This includes countries like India, China, and parts of the Russian Federation.

Also, the current estimate of our world’s population is about 8 billion and increasing (as of June 2022).

Also, you should know that our Earth’s circumference is about 40,075 km.

Earth’s Orbit Changes Over Time

Earth’s orbit around the Sun changes over time. In fact, Earth’s orbit changes from around circular to ellipse-shaped in a cycle that spans around 100,000 years or so.

This variation in orbit is thought to be caused by the influence of Saturn and Jupiter on our Earth over regular periods.

When the orbit of Earth is more elliptical, the incoming solar radiation of about 23% more reaches Earth at this planet’s closest approach to the Sun per year. 

Earth’s eccentricity is near its most circular part and decreasing very slowly.

Earth Has Various Contradictions

Our Earth is a very complex planet, and it can create some strange contradictions.

For instance, the largest water body on the planet and the driest place lie right next to each other: the Pacific Ocean and the Atacama Desert.

Also, Earth’s continent, known as Antarctica, is a very cold desert. This continent receives very little rainfall and has become a desert of ice instead of sand.

Earth’s Magnetic Field Reverses Over Time

The Earth’s magnetic field keeps the planet safe from the clutches of solar winds, which is a major reason life can survive here.

However, this magnetic field collapses, weakens, and occasionally reverses for unknown reasons.

Some think this is a potentially serious issue for life on Earth. It has happened often and even for a long time; hence, it appears that it has never caused any serious or large-scale extinctions until now. 

Earth Gains and Loses Mass Every Year

Our Earth gains some mass yearly, like 40 to 50 tons daily. This mass comes from several sources, like meteorites and comet trails. It gets captured by the gravity of Earth and rains down to the surface.

However, Earth is also gaining mass simultaneously. This planet is losing a few hundred tons of mass into space daily as gasses leak out from Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Some Lakes on Earth Can Explode

Cameroon has three hazardous lakes: Kivu, Nyos, and Monoun. These lakes are all crater lakes, meaning they are located in active volcanic regions.

As a result, carbon dioxide may build up over time and occasionally explode spontaneously. Also, the USA has the highest number of volcanoes worldwide, about 161.

Therefore, our home planet, Earth, was vastly different from what it is today, so understanding all facts about this planet is no doubt a tough task for us. We must know as much about this incredible planet as possible.