280 Unknown Facts About Earth

Facts About Earth - Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface is made up of the ocean, dwarfing Earth's polar ice, lakes, and rivers. The remaining 29% of Earth's surface is land, consisting of continents and islands. Earth's surface layer is formed of several slowly moving tectonic plates, interacting to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth's liquid outer core generates the magnetic field that shapes Earth's magnetosphere, deflecting destructive solar winds.

Today in This post we are going to share Unknown Facts About Earth. You don't know these facts about Earth. Please share this post with friends. I hope you like this post.

280 Unknown Facts About Earth

• Earth formed some 4.54 billion years ago.
• In size, Earth is slightly larger than Venus.
• We only use 11% of the Earth’s surface to grow food.
• 75% of every vehicle is actually recyclable.
• 27,000 trees are cut down each and every day for toiler paper.
• Barely 1% of the water on our planet is useable.
• Almost 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their food.
• Every day, each person creates roughly four pounds of garbage.
• Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.
• Earth is the only planet not named after a Roman God.
• Our planet orbits the sun at over 67,000 miles per hour.
• Earth is about 93 million miles away from the sun.
• It takes just over eight minutes for sunlight to reach our planet.
• A second is added to our clocks every few years to make up for Earth’s slowing.
• The ozone decreases about 4% each decade.
• The largest hole in our ozone was 11.5 million square miles over Antarctica in 2000.
• If we start caring for our ozone, it will once again reach normal levels by 2050.
• About 20% of the total population breathes contaminated air.
• Only 1% of China’s population breathes air that is considered “safe”.
• Our planet’s emissions may cause a 12°F temperature rise by the end of this century.
• Coral reefs are the most populated ecosystems on the planet.
• There is an average of 27 oil spills each day in our oceans.
• Plastic trash kills up to 1 million sea birds every year.
• There are 14 billion pounds of trash dumped into the ocean every year.
• The USA contains 5% of the world’s population but uses 25% of all natural resources.
• Only .6% of America’s workforce commutes on bike.
• Around 80% of Americans describe themselves as environmentally conscious…
• Plastic bags and other plastic products that are thrown into the ocean will kill on average 1 million sea creatures each year.
• It is estimated that life came to existence on Earth some 4.1 billion years ago.
• The planet Earth weighs approximately 5,974,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms (nearly 6 septillion kg), that’s roughly the same amount of weight as 54,807,339,449,541,284,403 (approx 55 quintillion) Blue Whales – the heaviest creature on the Earth itself!
• It is also interesting to note that more than 95% of Earth’s oceans are still unexplored.
• The seasons on Earth are due to its tilt against the Sun. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees with respect to its plane of rotation around the Sun.
• Earth is composed of four main layers – inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.
• Earth is exactly at a distance of 1 AU from the Sun. AU (the distance from the Sun to Earth) is the standard unit of measurement of the distance of celestial bodies from the Sun. And Earth’s measurements are used as a standard.
• Earth is the fifth largest planet in terms of size and mass.
• Earth has an Ozone layer that protects it from Sun’s powerful and harmful UV rays.
• The pressure and density go on decreasing as we move farther away from the Earth’s surface and travel towards space.
• The first 11 km from the Earth’s surface has 75% of the atmosphere.
• The last layer of the Earth’s atmosphere – the Exosphere – extends from 700 km above mean sea level to 10,000 km in outer space.
• Did you ever wonder why we have a leap year every four years? This is because a year on earth is not exactly 365 days but it is 365.2564 days. This extra 0.2564 day is adjusted with an extra day (leap day) in the month of February every four years.
• The Earth also has the credit of being the densest planet in the Solar System. It has an average density of 5.51 grams per cubic centimeter.
• Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has tectonic plates underneath its surface. These plates are floating on top of the magma inside of the Earth. When these plates collide, earthquakes happen. The movement of these plates is also very important for other geological and life-supporting purposes.
• The diameter of Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole is shorter than its diameter across the Equator by 43 km. Thus, Earth is not a perfect sphere and this difference in the diameter is the result of Earth’s rotation.
• Another interesting fact about the earth is that the same side of the moon is always facing the Earth, meaning the moon is in synchronous rotation with the Earth.
• Moon is Earth’s only permanent natural satellite. (FYI – there are 181 known natural moons that are orbiting the full-size and dwarf planets in our solar system)
• Moon, earth’s natural satellite, is thought to have been formed from Earth after the impact of a Mars-sized object, named Theia.
• It is a fascinating fact to note here that 99% of all species that ever existed on the Earth are now extinct.
• There is a possibility that some asteroid/comet may hit the earth and cause devastation to life. A similar event 65 million years ago happened and wiped out the dinosaurs from the planet.
• Since record-keeping for temperature began in 1880, 2016 was recorded as the hottest year ever. The temperature recorded in 2016 was 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average.
• Scientists have recently estimated that an ocean of water exists at a distance of 1,000 km under the surface of the Earth. And this water is important for volcanic activity, which in turn is responsible for generating soil.
• Manila, Philippines is the most densely populated city in the world.
• Merely 11% of the Earth’s surface is used to grow food.
• Aluminum cans can be perpetually recycled.
• American families throw away almost 90 pounds of plastic every year.
• Glass bottles take over 4,000 years to decompose.
• Over 80% of household waste can be recycled.
• In a mile stretch on an average U.S. highway, there are almost 1,500 pieces of trash.
• The world’s population is expected to increase from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2020, which will only increase the impact of human activity on the environment, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• Today’s average American generates about 4.5 pounds of trash per day, compared to 2.68 pounds in 1960, according to the EPA.
• Food accounts for 10 to 30 percent of a household’s carbon footprint, due to the emissions involved in food production and transportation, according to the Center for Sustainable Systems.
• U.S. automobile fuel economy increased 24 percent between 2004 and 2017.
• Rocks that move by themselves: Some rocks on our planet Earth move by themselves. However, scientists have failed to capture the actual motion of these rocks because they move so little but their movement is certain.
• The boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space is known as the Karman Line. This boundary lies at a distance of 100 km from Earth’s sea level. Anyone who goes beyond this line is considered an astronaut.
• The Earth and the Sun: The minimum distance between the earth and the Sun (perihelion) is 147.1 million kilometers and the maximum distance (aphelion) between the earth and the Sun is 152.1 million kilometers.
• 2019 was the second-hottest year on record worldwide, just behind 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Twenty of the warmest years on record worldwide have occurred in the past 22 years, according to Climate Central.
• Scientists estimate that dozens of plants and animal species go extinct each day due to human activity.
• Rising global temperatures are leading to more extreme weather events, including more intense wildfires and more frequent, high-intensity hurricanes, according to the Earth Day Network.
• You can improve your car’s fuel economy by 7 to 14 percent simply by obeying the speed limit.
• Electronic devices plugged in on “standby” mode can account for 5 to 10 percent of a household’s energy use.
• Since the first Earth Day, average annual temperatures in the contiguous United States have been warming at a rate of 0.45°F per decade.
• Humans today use about 50 percent more natural resources than we did 30 years ago, according to a report from Friends of the Earth.
• Animal species populations saw an overall decline of 60 percent worldwide between 1970 and 2014, due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and other factors, according to the WWF.
• Using a dishwasher is more eco-friendly than hand-washing dishes, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan.
• Nearly 80 percent of all plastic waste ever created by humans is still in the environment, according to Recycle Now.
• More than 30 countries and regions have introduced bans on disposable plastic bags to fight plastic waste, according to Greenpeace.
• The speed of rotation of Earth is gradually slowing down; meaning that in some 140 million years from now, the length of a day on Earth would be 25 hours.
• Earth was once believed to be the center of the Universe and scientists believed that the Sun and other planets revolved around it. However, this assumption was proved incorrect.
• Because of the presence of inner Nickel-Iron core, Earth has a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field is also responsible for preventing heavy solar winds from blowing on the Earth and causing damage to various life forms.
• The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not named after either a Greek or Roman God.
• The Earth is associated with the Goddess Terra Mater (Gaea in Greek Mythology) who was the first Goddess on Earth and the mother of Uranus.
• The name Earth comes from a combination of Old English and Germanic and is derived from ‘eor(th)e’ and ‘ertha’ which mean ‘ground’.
• Earth is the only planet in our solar system to have water in all three of its forms (Liquid, Solis & Gas).
• One third of the Earth’s surface is either partially or totally desert.
• The Earth is struck by lightning 100 times per second – that’s 8.6 million times per day!
• The highest recorded temperature: it is 56.7°C (134°F), measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California, USA.
• The coldest permanently inhabited place: Oymyakon, a village in Siberia, Russia, is where the temperature reached -68 degree Celsius. And the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Antarctica’s Vostok station – minus 89.2 degree Celsius.
• Mawsynram in Meghalaya, India is the wettest place on land on Earth. It receives an average annual rainfall of 11,871 mm. This place is just 10 miles away from the town of Cherrapunji (another record holder for the wettest month and year ever.)
• Dry Valleys in Antarctica is the driest place on Earth. This place has seen no rainfall for the past 2 million years. This is a 4800 square kilometer region with no ice, snow or water.
• The Maldives is the flattest country in the world with an average highest above sea level of 2.4m.
• The Earth is 150 million kilometers from the Sun. That’s very far. It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the sun’s light to reach the Earth.
• Our planet is old. It was formed 4.28 billion years ago.
• Of all the water in the planet, only 3% is fresh water. 97% is in the ocean, which is salty.
• The Moon accompanies the Earth in its journey through space. It is the 5th largest natural satellite in the solar system.
• The planet has 3 parts: The Crust, The Mantle and the Core.
• The Earth’s Inner Core, 1,800 miles beneath your feet, is a solid ball composed mostly of iron. Down there, new studies show that the temperature is 6,000 degrees Celsius! (10,832 degrees Fahrenheit). This inner core is 2/3 the size of the moon.
• Surrounding the inner core of iron is a liquid outer core made also of iron, nickel and other metals. The pressure in this area is less than that in the inner core that’s why the metals are liquid. The movement of the outer liquid core gives the Earth its Magnetic Field.
• Earth, the 3rd planet from the Sun is the only planet in the Solar System that has oxygen and harbors Life as we know it. There may be other forms of life on other planets, but for now, this is the only planet we can live in.
• When viewed from space, most of the Earth’s surface can’t be seen because of the clouds formed from water vapor.  It is a blue marble with swirling clouds of white.
• The Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has surface water. It is composed of 70% water and 30% land. It is rightly called The Blue Planet.
• The Earth is not really a perfect circle like we see in most pictures. It is a little fat in the middle because of gravity. It’s flatter at the North and South Poles and has a bulge in the equator – this shape is called a Spheroid or Ellipse
• It is located in the Solar System’s “Goldilocks Zone” – not too far from the Sun to be cold and not too near to be too hot. Scientists think that this is the reason why Life was able to flourish on Earth. In our search for Earth-like planets orbiting other Suns, we look in the area of the Goldilocks Zone.
• Although you don’t feel it, the Earth is spinning on its axis. Its spin gives us our days and nights, depending on which side is facing the sun. You can’t feel it because gravity and momentum keeps you firmly attached to the planet and unaware of the movement, but it’s actually spinning at 1,667 kilometers per hour! It takes the Earth 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to rotate on its axis completely – that’s why a day lasts for 24 hours.
• Not only is it spinning on its axis, the Earth is also revolving around the Sun at a speed of 108,000 kilometers per hour! In one orbit, the planet travels 940 million kilometers and it completes the orbit in 365.242199 days, which is one year. More:  World Population Counter
• The Magnetic Field protects the Earth from solar winds that can strip the planet of its atmosphere. Without our atmosphere, we will be just like Mars and we won’t have any protection from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays.
• Isn’t the Earth amazing? Of all the planets that we’ve seen so far, it’s the only one we know that has Intelligent Life. Let’s use our intelligence to take care of the planet that we live in. It’s our home… and right now, it’s the only home we’ve got.
• On an elemental level, the Mantle consists of 44.8% Oxygen, 21.5% Silicon and 22.8 Magnesium, although it also contains trace amounts of Iron, Aluminium, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium. However, these elements are all bound together in the rocks that make up the Earth’s Mantle.
• The Mantle is the largest layers of the Earth, approximately 2,970 km thick – this makes up about 84% of the Earth’s total volume.
• The Earth’s core consists of two layers, an outer-layer and an inner-layer. Although the specific percentages are unknown, both the outer and inner layers of the Earth’s Core consist of mainly Iron and Nickel.
• The outer-layer of the Earth’s core is believed to be liquid, whereas the inner-layer of the Core is believed to be a solid as hot as the Sun!
• Due to the unique Nickel-Iron properties of the Earth’s Core, when coupled with the Earth’s rotation, The Earth is surrounded by a powerful magnetic field that protects it from the effects of Solar Wind.
• In the past there have been many misconceptions about the Earth, such as when people thought it was the center of the Solar System and that all other planets orbited it! Or when they thought it was flat and that a person could sail off the edge by sailing over the horizon!
• The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down. However it is slowing down so very minimally (approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years) that it will be about 140 million years before the Earth experiences 25 hour days.
• Of all the planets in our solar system, the Earth is the most dense with a density of roughly 5.52 grams per cubic centimeter. The second densest planet in our solar system is Mercury with a density of 5.427 grams per cubic centimeter.
• The Earth is the only place in our solar system where a Solar Eclipse can happen.
• The Queen of the U.K. is the legal owner of one sixth of the Earth’s land surface!
• The Earth is actually not round in shape – it is geoid. This is because the rounded shape has a slight bulge towards the equator which is caused by the Earth’s rotation.
• Although life (as we know it) has only existed on Earth for 150 – 200 million years, it is theorized that the Earth itself is almost 5 billion years old!
• The Earth tilts at roughly 66 degrees.
• If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, then it would take you about 42 minutes to get to the other side!
• Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970.
• A Santa Barbara oil spill was the catalyst for Earth Day.
• One of the first names for Earth Day was “National Environmental Teach-In”.
• Earth Day became a worldwide celebration in 1990.
• The recycling rate has gone from 10% to 34% in the last 30 years.
• Recycling one ton of paper saves enough energy to heat a home for six months.
• Over 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year.
• One in four mammals is running the risk of extinction.
• The hottest temperature ever recorded was 134°F in Death Valley, CA on July 10, 1913.
• The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6°F in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
• The average American uses more than 750,000 gallons of water each year.
• 71% of our planet’s surface is covered in water.
• All of the water on Earth could fit into 860 mile-wide sphere.
• Our sea levels have risen about 19 centimeters in the last century.
• There’s a floating vortex of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean that’s bigger than the USA.
• An average of 100 acres’ worth of rainforests are being cut down every single minute.
• American businesses alone generate enough paper every day to encircle the globe 20 times.
• Less than 4% of America’s forests are left after being cut down for building materials and fuel.
• 80% of all the forests in the world that were there after the departure of the last ice age are now gone, mainly because of the logging industry and our need for more arable land.
• In the fall, leaves actually constitute 75% of all our solid waste.
• 40% of our waterways are dangerous to drink from because of the toxins and chemicals that have been spilled in them.
• Between 50 and 100 species of plants and animals go extinct every single day because their habitats are destroyed by humans, often for farming.
• Some species of fish have been reduced to just one-tenth of their original population because fishing has gotten out of control.
• Over 200 of the world's landfills were completely full in 1995. We are really starting to run out of space to dump all our rubbish, most of which can simply be recycled!
•  Around 5 million tons of the oil produced throughout the year ends up in the ocean each year.
• 17 trees, 4,100 kilowatts of energy, 2 barrels of oil, and 3.2 cubic yards of waste space can be saved by recycling a ton of paper.
• Every year we dump 14 billion pounds of trash into the ocean rather than either recycling it or disposing of it properly in designated landfills.
• There is a ‘garbage patch’ in the Pacific Ocean that is just twisting and turning vortex of trash and waste. Its size is twice that of continental America and it is thought to contain nearly 100 million tons of garbage.
• Every year we lose 50 million acres of rainforest – that’s an area the size of English, Wales and Scotland altogether. This means the deaths of many different animals and plants and even the extinction of hundreds if not thousands of species, some of which we have not yet even discovered.
• If we continue to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the same rate as we currently are, scientists estimate that our average temperatures will rise by 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st
• century.
• Only 1% of all the water on our Earth can be drunk. The rest is ocean water and is frozen in the Arctic.
• We gain 77 million people each year, which means that resources are getting very stretched.
• On average, 50,000 species living in our tropical rainforests become extinct every year, even those that we have not discovered yet.
• Aluminum can be recycled endlessly, so there is no excuse to throw your cans away!
• The oldest trees in the world are 4,600 years old and grow in America.
• Just one supermarket can throw away over 60 million paper bags each year. Many of these will end up in the world’s oceans.
• Modern glass bottles can take more than 4000 years to decompose, but they can easily be recycled.
• If we do recycle just one glass bottle, we save enough energy to light a normal light bulb for around four hours.
• It is estimated that 84% of all household waste could be recycled rather than thrown in landfills and left to take hundreds if not thousands of years to decompose.
• Most families, it is though, throw away around 88 pounds of plastic annually.
• One in four mammals is facing extinction.
• 78% of our marine mammals are threatened with extinction because of accidental deaths caused by getting caught in nets meant for catching fish, for instance.
• If we were to start recycling all newspapers, we could save an average of 250 million trees every year.
• Using renewable energy sources can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 pounds annually. That also means 70 pounds less sulfur will be emitted into our atmosphere annually, too.
• Americans use one million gallons of oil every couple of minutes.
• 200,000 people are moving away from cities every day because they can no longer support them.
• Every day, there are approximately 27 oil spills somewhere in the world.
• Americans throw away, rather than recycle, an entire commercial fleet of airplanes’ worth of aluminum every three months.
• 40% of all the water sold in the world as bottled water actually taps water.
• Paper can actually only be recycled six times.
• It costs 90% more energy to make new aluminum cans than to just recycle them.
• We use approximately 5 billion aluminum cans each and every year.
• We throw away each wood and paper every year would be enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
• It is estimated that only 10% of every landfill can be cleaned up.
• The billions of used batteries that are thrown away in America alone constitute to 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium in the landfills today.
• Disposing of just one gallon of motor oil improperly can end up contaminating up to 2 million gallons of water.
• Recycling just one aluminum can save enough energy to run a television for three hours.
• Using an automatic dishwasher rather than doing the dishes by hand can use an average of six gallons less hot water per cycle, adding up to over 2,000 gallons of hot water a year.
• Americans alone use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and the vast majority of these are thrown away.
• The population of people on Earth has grown more in the last 50 years than in the last 4 million.
• In 2012, the hole in the ozone layer was smaller than it has ever been in the last 10 years.
• Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, founded Earth Day in 1970 to raise public consciousness about environmental concerns such as pollution, oil spills, and vanishing wildlife. He tapped into the energy of the anti-war movement, framing Earth Day as a “national teach-in on the environment.”
• April 22 was chosen as the date for Earth Day because it fell between Spring Break and final exams, and organizers wanted to maximize student involvement.
• The first Earth Day in 1970 inspired the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, according to the EPA.
• The theme for Earth Day 2020 is Climate Action.
• Around 1 billion people take part in Earth Day activities around the world every year.
• In the lead-up to Earth Day this year, millions of people worldwide will participate in Earth Hour on March 28. At 8:30 p.m. local time, people will participate in events and demonstrate their commitment to the planet. In past years, Earth Hour gatherings have contributed to real policy changes, including the creation of a marine protected area in Argentina and environmental protection legislation in Russia.
• On Earth Day in 2011, people planted 28 million trees in Afghanistan as part of a “Plant Trees Not Bombs” campaign.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Order of the planets from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (the dwarf planet)).
• The existence of water in the liquid phase on Earth is due to the temperature span that exists on the Earth: 0 – 100 degrees Celsius. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius, thus converting it into gas and making it unusable for consumption by living beings including humans, animals, birds, etc.
• Earth is the only place in the solar system where water can be present in all three states – solid, liquid, and gas.
• We are all traveling around the Sun at an average velocity of 107,182 kilometers per hour. And at the same time, we are also spinning at an enormous speed – that could be 1000 miles per hour depending on your position on Earth.
• Earth receives between 100 and 300 metric tons of cosmic dust (the dust which exists in outer space, as well as all over planet Earth) every day (data collected from satellite observations.) However, some other estimates suggest that the incoming dust could be as low as 5 metric tons per day.
• Despite the fact that the earth is made up of more than 70% of water, do not be surprised to learn that water accounts for less than 1% of Earth’s mass.
• The force of gravity in the Hudson Bay region of Canada is less than that of the rest of the planet. There are various theories that scientists associate with this effect but no one is sure as to why this is the case.
• Earth, a pale blue dot, from a distance of 6 billion kilometers – as seen by Voyager 1 spacecraft.
• Tides in oceans on Earth happen due to the force of gravitation between the Earth and the moon. Moon pulls up water in oceans and even in lakes, due to its gravitational force.
• Earth has just one moon whereas Jupiter has 67 moons.
• The moon (radius – 1,738 kilometers) is the fifth-largest moon in the Solar System after Ganymede (orbits: Jupiter), Titan (orbits: Saturn), Callisto (orbits: Jupiter), and Io (orbits: Jupiter).
• The Moon reflects Sun’s light on the Earth when the Sun is on the other side of the Earth meaning when there is the night on one side of the planet.
• Earth is the only known planet that supports life. However, attempts are underway to help life survive on other planets like Mars.
• It is also the only planet not to be named after a Greek or Roman god. Jupiter is named after the king of Roman gods and Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky. The name Earth comes from English/German, which means the Ground.
• Earth’s inner core has a temperature between 5400 and 6000 degrees Celsius. Thus, making it hotter than the surface of the Sun (surface temperature – 5500 Celsius).
• The thickest of all the four layers of the earth is the mantle, which is 2900 kilometers thick. This layer has a consistency of caramel and is composed of a hot mixture of molten rock.
• The thinnest of all the layers is the crust, which is on an average 30 kilometers deep on average on the ground. 
• Earth also has the largest natural satellite as compared to any other planet considering the size of Earth and the moon (the Moon is approximately 27% the size of the Earth.)
• Earth’s core is almost 85-88% iron and its crust is almost 47% Oxygen.
• Earth is also known as the “Blue Planet” because of its bluish appearance from outer space. Almost 70% of Earth’s surface is covered with water.
• There are five layers in Earth’s atmosphere including – the Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. Earth’s atmosphere is the thickest from ground level up to a height of 50 km and extends up to 10,000 km.
• Airplanes fly at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet which is almost 18.288 km.
• Earth is the only planet that contains 21% oxygen in its atmosphere and liquid water on its surface.
• Light from the Sun reaches the Earth in approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds.
• Almost 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans that contain 97% of the planet’s water. These oceans are home to great mysteries and tons of geographical features that are not even available on the land. E.g. Earth’s longest mountain range is also underwater.
• It is estimated that life initiated in the oceans some 3.8 billion years ago. 
• Earth has no rings. However, Jupiter has 4 sets of rings and Saturn has 4 main groups of rings and 3 fainter groups of rings.
• Did you know that a magnetic field reversal takes place every 40,000 years on average? At the time of this reversal, the magnetic polarity of the earth will change which will bring a change in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.
• The peak of Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, located just one degree south of the Equator is the highest point on Earth. At this point, the Earth’s bulge is greatest.
• “Challenger deep” – near a trench called the “Mariana Trench” beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean to the southeast of Japan — is the deepest known place on Earth. This trench is nearly seven miles deep.
• The Nile is the longest river on Earth that extends 6,695 km from its source in Burundi to the Mediterranean sea. However, Amazon is the biggest river in the world in terms of the water that flows down it.
• scientists have recently calculated that there are more than 1500 minerals that are still undiscovered in the Earth. We are aware of more than 5000 minerals but many are still unknown. Another captivating fact here is that the Earth’s mineral diversity is unique to itself and is not duplicated on any other planet, not even the rocky exoplanets.
• Carbon-di-oxide spitting lakes: there are three crater lakes – Nyos, Monoun, and Kivu, that sit in Cameroon and on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These lakes spit carbon dioxide at an enormous level and have been the cause of deaths of hundreds of people in the past. This phenomenon happens because of the presence of magma below the surface of the lakes and this magma releases carbon dioxide into the water which causes the resulting spewing of the gas into the atmosphere.
• Twenty million Americans, or about 10 percent of the country’s population at the time, took part in events and demonstrations on the first Earth Day.
• The first Earth Day pushed environmental concerns onto the national agenda. That same year, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Contrary to popular belief it does not take the Earth 24 hours to complete a single rotation, it actually takes it 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to complete a rotation and astronomers call this a sidereal day.
• A year on Earth is not 365 days as widely thought, but rather 365.2564 days. The extra 0.2564 days is where the extra day that is added onto February every leap year, or every four years, comes from.
• Ever wondered why people call the Earth the Blue Planet? That’s because 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water!
• Of the 70% of water covering the Earth only 3% of it is fresh, and the other 97% of it is salted.
• Of this 3%, more than 2% resides in ice sheets and glaciers, meaning less than 1% is in lakes and rivers.
• Due to the amount of water covering the Earth, it would be one of the brightest planets to look upon from a distance due to the way in which the water would reflect the Sun’s rays.
• The Earth consists of 3 different layers: the Crust, The Mantle, and The Core. And each of these three different layers is made up of different elements.
• The Crust consists of 32% Iron, 30% Oxygen, 15% Silicon, 14% Magnesium, 3% Sulphur, and 2% Nickel – which totals 96%. The other 4% is made up of trace amounts of Calcium, Aluminium, and other miscellaneous elements.
• Before I tell you what the rest of the Earth’s layers consist of, here’s an interesting side-fact about the Earth’s Crust: it consists of different plates floating perpetually on the Earth's mantle, moving at the same rate that a person’s fingernails grow!

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Facts About Earth - Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface is made up of the ocean, dwarfing Earth's polar ice, lakes, and rivers. The remaining 29% of Earth's surface is land, consisting of continents and islands. Earth's surface layer is formed of several slowly moving tectonic plates, interacting to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth's liquid outer core generates the magnetic field that shapes Earth's magnetosphere, deflecting destructive solar winds.

Today in This post we are going to share Unknown Facts About Earth. You don't know these facts about Earth. Please share this post with friends. I hope you like this post.

280 Unknown Facts About Earth

• Earth formed some 4.54 billion years ago.
• In size, Earth is slightly larger than Venus.
• We only use 11% of the Earth’s surface to grow food.
• 75% of every vehicle is actually recyclable.
• 27,000 trees are cut down each and every day for toiler paper.
• Barely 1% of the water on our planet is useable.
• Almost 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their food.
• Every day, each person creates roughly four pounds of garbage.
• Earth is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old.
• Earth is the only planet not named after a Roman God.
• Our planet orbits the sun at over 67,000 miles per hour.
• Earth is about 93 million miles away from the sun.
• It takes just over eight minutes for sunlight to reach our planet.
• A second is added to our clocks every few years to make up for Earth’s slowing.
• The ozone decreases about 4% each decade.
• The largest hole in our ozone was 11.5 million square miles over Antarctica in 2000.
• If we start caring for our ozone, it will once again reach normal levels by 2050.
• About 20% of the total population breathes contaminated air.
• Only 1% of China’s population breathes air that is considered “safe”.
• Our planet’s emissions may cause a 12°F temperature rise by the end of this century.
• Coral reefs are the most populated ecosystems on the planet.
• There is an average of 27 oil spills each day in our oceans.
• Plastic trash kills up to 1 million sea birds every year.
• There are 14 billion pounds of trash dumped into the ocean every year.
• The USA contains 5% of the world’s population but uses 25% of all natural resources.
• Only .6% of America’s workforce commutes on bike.
• Around 80% of Americans describe themselves as environmentally conscious…
• Plastic bags and other plastic products that are thrown into the ocean will kill on average 1 million sea creatures each year.
• It is estimated that life came to existence on Earth some 4.1 billion years ago.
• The planet Earth weighs approximately 5,974,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms (nearly 6 septillion kg), that’s roughly the same amount of weight as 54,807,339,449,541,284,403 (approx 55 quintillion) Blue Whales – the heaviest creature on the Earth itself!
• It is also interesting to note that more than 95% of Earth’s oceans are still unexplored.
• The seasons on Earth are due to its tilt against the Sun. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees with respect to its plane of rotation around the Sun.
• Earth is composed of four main layers – inner core, outer core, mantle, and crust.
• Earth is exactly at a distance of 1 AU from the Sun. AU (the distance from the Sun to Earth) is the standard unit of measurement of the distance of celestial bodies from the Sun. And Earth’s measurements are used as a standard.
• Earth is the fifth largest planet in terms of size and mass.
• Earth has an Ozone layer that protects it from Sun’s powerful and harmful UV rays.
• The pressure and density go on decreasing as we move farther away from the Earth’s surface and travel towards space.
• The first 11 km from the Earth’s surface has 75% of the atmosphere.
• The last layer of the Earth’s atmosphere – the Exosphere – extends from 700 km above mean sea level to 10,000 km in outer space.
• Did you ever wonder why we have a leap year every four years? This is because a year on earth is not exactly 365 days but it is 365.2564 days. This extra 0.2564 day is adjusted with an extra day (leap day) in the month of February every four years.
• The Earth also has the credit of being the densest planet in the Solar System. It has an average density of 5.51 grams per cubic centimeter.
• Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has tectonic plates underneath its surface. These plates are floating on top of the magma inside of the Earth. When these plates collide, earthquakes happen. The movement of these plates is also very important for other geological and life-supporting purposes.
• The diameter of Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole is shorter than its diameter across the Equator by 43 km. Thus, Earth is not a perfect sphere and this difference in the diameter is the result of Earth’s rotation.
• Another interesting fact about the earth is that the same side of the moon is always facing the Earth, meaning the moon is in synchronous rotation with the Earth.
• Moon is Earth’s only permanent natural satellite. (FYI – there are 181 known natural moons that are orbiting the full-size and dwarf planets in our solar system)
• Moon, earth’s natural satellite, is thought to have been formed from Earth after the impact of a Mars-sized object, named Theia.
• It is a fascinating fact to note here that 99% of all species that ever existed on the Earth are now extinct.
• There is a possibility that some asteroid/comet may hit the earth and cause devastation to life. A similar event 65 million years ago happened and wiped out the dinosaurs from the planet.
• Since record-keeping for temperature began in 1880, 2016 was recorded as the hottest year ever. The temperature recorded in 2016 was 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average.
• Scientists have recently estimated that an ocean of water exists at a distance of 1,000 km under the surface of the Earth. And this water is important for volcanic activity, which in turn is responsible for generating soil.
• Manila, Philippines is the most densely populated city in the world.
• Merely 11% of the Earth’s surface is used to grow food.
• Aluminum cans can be perpetually recycled.
• American families throw away almost 90 pounds of plastic every year.
• Glass bottles take over 4,000 years to decompose.
• Over 80% of household waste can be recycled.
• In a mile stretch on an average U.S. highway, there are almost 1,500 pieces of trash.
• The world’s population is expected to increase from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2020, which will only increase the impact of human activity on the environment, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
• Today’s average American generates about 4.5 pounds of trash per day, compared to 2.68 pounds in 1960, according to the EPA.
• Food accounts for 10 to 30 percent of a household’s carbon footprint, due to the emissions involved in food production and transportation, according to the Center for Sustainable Systems.
• U.S. automobile fuel economy increased 24 percent between 2004 and 2017.
• Rocks that move by themselves: Some rocks on our planet Earth move by themselves. However, scientists have failed to capture the actual motion of these rocks because they move so little but their movement is certain.
• The boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space is known as the Karman Line. This boundary lies at a distance of 100 km from Earth’s sea level. Anyone who goes beyond this line is considered an astronaut.
• The Earth and the Sun: The minimum distance between the earth and the Sun (perihelion) is 147.1 million kilometers and the maximum distance (aphelion) between the earth and the Sun is 152.1 million kilometers.
• 2019 was the second-hottest year on record worldwide, just behind 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Twenty of the warmest years on record worldwide have occurred in the past 22 years, according to Climate Central.
• Scientists estimate that dozens of plants and animal species go extinct each day due to human activity.
• Rising global temperatures are leading to more extreme weather events, including more intense wildfires and more frequent, high-intensity hurricanes, according to the Earth Day Network.
• You can improve your car’s fuel economy by 7 to 14 percent simply by obeying the speed limit.
• Electronic devices plugged in on “standby” mode can account for 5 to 10 percent of a household’s energy use.
• Since the first Earth Day, average annual temperatures in the contiguous United States have been warming at a rate of 0.45°F per decade.
• Humans today use about 50 percent more natural resources than we did 30 years ago, according to a report from Friends of the Earth.
• Animal species populations saw an overall decline of 60 percent worldwide between 1970 and 2014, due to habitat loss, pollution, climate change and other factors, according to the WWF.
• Using a dishwasher is more eco-friendly than hand-washing dishes, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan.
• Nearly 80 percent of all plastic waste ever created by humans is still in the environment, according to Recycle Now.
• More than 30 countries and regions have introduced bans on disposable plastic bags to fight plastic waste, according to Greenpeace.
• The speed of rotation of Earth is gradually slowing down; meaning that in some 140 million years from now, the length of a day on Earth would be 25 hours.
• Earth was once believed to be the center of the Universe and scientists believed that the Sun and other planets revolved around it. However, this assumption was proved incorrect.
• Because of the presence of inner Nickel-Iron core, Earth has a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field is also responsible for preventing heavy solar winds from blowing on the Earth and causing damage to various life forms.
• The Earth is the only planet in our solar system not named after either a Greek or Roman God.
• The Earth is associated with the Goddess Terra Mater (Gaea in Greek Mythology) who was the first Goddess on Earth and the mother of Uranus.
• The name Earth comes from a combination of Old English and Germanic and is derived from ‘eor(th)e’ and ‘ertha’ which mean ‘ground’.
• Earth is the only planet in our solar system to have water in all three of its forms (Liquid, Solis & Gas).
• One third of the Earth’s surface is either partially or totally desert.
• The Earth is struck by lightning 100 times per second – that’s 8.6 million times per day!
• The highest recorded temperature: it is 56.7°C (134°F), measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California, USA.
• The coldest permanently inhabited place: Oymyakon, a village in Siberia, Russia, is where the temperature reached -68 degree Celsius. And the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Antarctica’s Vostok station – minus 89.2 degree Celsius.
• Mawsynram in Meghalaya, India is the wettest place on land on Earth. It receives an average annual rainfall of 11,871 mm. This place is just 10 miles away from the town of Cherrapunji (another record holder for the wettest month and year ever.)
• Dry Valleys in Antarctica is the driest place on Earth. This place has seen no rainfall for the past 2 million years. This is a 4800 square kilometer region with no ice, snow or water.
• The Maldives is the flattest country in the world with an average highest above sea level of 2.4m.
• The Earth is 150 million kilometers from the Sun. That’s very far. It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for the sun’s light to reach the Earth.
• Our planet is old. It was formed 4.28 billion years ago.
• Of all the water in the planet, only 3% is fresh water. 97% is in the ocean, which is salty.
• The Moon accompanies the Earth in its journey through space. It is the 5th largest natural satellite in the solar system.
• The planet has 3 parts: The Crust, The Mantle and the Core.
• The Earth’s Inner Core, 1,800 miles beneath your feet, is a solid ball composed mostly of iron. Down there, new studies show that the temperature is 6,000 degrees Celsius! (10,832 degrees Fahrenheit). This inner core is 2/3 the size of the moon.
• Surrounding the inner core of iron is a liquid outer core made also of iron, nickel and other metals. The pressure in this area is less than that in the inner core that’s why the metals are liquid. The movement of the outer liquid core gives the Earth its Magnetic Field.
• Earth, the 3rd planet from the Sun is the only planet in the Solar System that has oxygen and harbors Life as we know it. There may be other forms of life on other planets, but for now, this is the only planet we can live in.
• When viewed from space, most of the Earth’s surface can’t be seen because of the clouds formed from water vapor.  It is a blue marble with swirling clouds of white.
• The Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has surface water. It is composed of 70% water and 30% land. It is rightly called The Blue Planet.
• The Earth is not really a perfect circle like we see in most pictures. It is a little fat in the middle because of gravity. It’s flatter at the North and South Poles and has a bulge in the equator – this shape is called a Spheroid or Ellipse
• It is located in the Solar System’s “Goldilocks Zone” – not too far from the Sun to be cold and not too near to be too hot. Scientists think that this is the reason why Life was able to flourish on Earth. In our search for Earth-like planets orbiting other Suns, we look in the area of the Goldilocks Zone.
• Although you don’t feel it, the Earth is spinning on its axis. Its spin gives us our days and nights, depending on which side is facing the sun. You can’t feel it because gravity and momentum keeps you firmly attached to the planet and unaware of the movement, but it’s actually spinning at 1,667 kilometers per hour! It takes the Earth 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to rotate on its axis completely – that’s why a day lasts for 24 hours.
• Not only is it spinning on its axis, the Earth is also revolving around the Sun at a speed of 108,000 kilometers per hour! In one orbit, the planet travels 940 million kilometers and it completes the orbit in 365.242199 days, which is one year. More:  World Population Counter
• The Magnetic Field protects the Earth from solar winds that can strip the planet of its atmosphere. Without our atmosphere, we will be just like Mars and we won’t have any protection from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays.
• Isn’t the Earth amazing? Of all the planets that we’ve seen so far, it’s the only one we know that has Intelligent Life. Let’s use our intelligence to take care of the planet that we live in. It’s our home… and right now, it’s the only home we’ve got.
• On an elemental level, the Mantle consists of 44.8% Oxygen, 21.5% Silicon and 22.8 Magnesium, although it also contains trace amounts of Iron, Aluminium, Calcium, Sodium and Potassium. However, these elements are all bound together in the rocks that make up the Earth’s Mantle.
• The Mantle is the largest layers of the Earth, approximately 2,970 km thick – this makes up about 84% of the Earth’s total volume.
• The Earth’s core consists of two layers, an outer-layer and an inner-layer. Although the specific percentages are unknown, both the outer and inner layers of the Earth’s Core consist of mainly Iron and Nickel.
• The outer-layer of the Earth’s core is believed to be liquid, whereas the inner-layer of the Core is believed to be a solid as hot as the Sun!
• Due to the unique Nickel-Iron properties of the Earth’s Core, when coupled with the Earth’s rotation, The Earth is surrounded by a powerful magnetic field that protects it from the effects of Solar Wind.
• In the past there have been many misconceptions about the Earth, such as when people thought it was the center of the Solar System and that all other planets orbited it! Or when they thought it was flat and that a person could sail off the edge by sailing over the horizon!
• The Earth’s rotation is gradually slowing down. However it is slowing down so very minimally (approximately 17 milliseconds per hundred years) that it will be about 140 million years before the Earth experiences 25 hour days.
• Of all the planets in our solar system, the Earth is the most dense with a density of roughly 5.52 grams per cubic centimeter. The second densest planet in our solar system is Mercury with a density of 5.427 grams per cubic centimeter.
• The Earth is the only place in our solar system where a Solar Eclipse can happen.
• The Queen of the U.K. is the legal owner of one sixth of the Earth’s land surface!
• The Earth is actually not round in shape – it is geoid. This is because the rounded shape has a slight bulge towards the equator which is caused by the Earth’s rotation.
• Although life (as we know it) has only existed on Earth for 150 – 200 million years, it is theorized that the Earth itself is almost 5 billion years old!
• The Earth tilts at roughly 66 degrees.
• If you drilled a tunnel straight through the Earth and jumped in, then it would take you about 42 minutes to get to the other side!
• Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970.
• A Santa Barbara oil spill was the catalyst for Earth Day.
• One of the first names for Earth Day was “National Environmental Teach-In”.
• Earth Day became a worldwide celebration in 1990.
• The recycling rate has gone from 10% to 34% in the last 30 years.
• Recycling one ton of paper saves enough energy to heat a home for six months.
• Over 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year.
• One in four mammals is running the risk of extinction.
• The hottest temperature ever recorded was 134°F in Death Valley, CA on July 10, 1913.
• The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6°F in Antarctica on July 21, 1983.
• The average American uses more than 750,000 gallons of water each year.
• 71% of our planet’s surface is covered in water.
• All of the water on Earth could fit into 860 mile-wide sphere.
• Our sea levels have risen about 19 centimeters in the last century.
• There’s a floating vortex of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean that’s bigger than the USA.
• An average of 100 acres’ worth of rainforests are being cut down every single minute.
• American businesses alone generate enough paper every day to encircle the globe 20 times.
• Less than 4% of America’s forests are left after being cut down for building materials and fuel.
• 80% of all the forests in the world that were there after the departure of the last ice age are now gone, mainly because of the logging industry and our need for more arable land.
• In the fall, leaves actually constitute 75% of all our solid waste.
• 40% of our waterways are dangerous to drink from because of the toxins and chemicals that have been spilled in them.
• Between 50 and 100 species of plants and animals go extinct every single day because their habitats are destroyed by humans, often for farming.
• Some species of fish have been reduced to just one-tenth of their original population because fishing has gotten out of control.
• Over 200 of the world's landfills were completely full in 1995. We are really starting to run out of space to dump all our rubbish, most of which can simply be recycled!
•  Around 5 million tons of the oil produced throughout the year ends up in the ocean each year.
• 17 trees, 4,100 kilowatts of energy, 2 barrels of oil, and 3.2 cubic yards of waste space can be saved by recycling a ton of paper.
• Every year we dump 14 billion pounds of trash into the ocean rather than either recycling it or disposing of it properly in designated landfills.
• There is a ‘garbage patch’ in the Pacific Ocean that is just twisting and turning vortex of trash and waste. Its size is twice that of continental America and it is thought to contain nearly 100 million tons of garbage.
• Every year we lose 50 million acres of rainforest – that’s an area the size of English, Wales and Scotland altogether. This means the deaths of many different animals and plants and even the extinction of hundreds if not thousands of species, some of which we have not yet even discovered.
• If we continue to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at the same rate as we currently are, scientists estimate that our average temperatures will rise by 12 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st
• century.
• Only 1% of all the water on our Earth can be drunk. The rest is ocean water and is frozen in the Arctic.
• We gain 77 million people each year, which means that resources are getting very stretched.
• On average, 50,000 species living in our tropical rainforests become extinct every year, even those that we have not discovered yet.
• Aluminum can be recycled endlessly, so there is no excuse to throw your cans away!
• The oldest trees in the world are 4,600 years old and grow in America.
• Just one supermarket can throw away over 60 million paper bags each year. Many of these will end up in the world’s oceans.
• Modern glass bottles can take more than 4000 years to decompose, but they can easily be recycled.
• If we do recycle just one glass bottle, we save enough energy to light a normal light bulb for around four hours.
• It is estimated that 84% of all household waste could be recycled rather than thrown in landfills and left to take hundreds if not thousands of years to decompose.
• Most families, it is though, throw away around 88 pounds of plastic annually.
• One in four mammals is facing extinction.
• 78% of our marine mammals are threatened with extinction because of accidental deaths caused by getting caught in nets meant for catching fish, for instance.
• If we were to start recycling all newspapers, we could save an average of 250 million trees every year.
• Using renewable energy sources can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20,000 pounds annually. That also means 70 pounds less sulfur will be emitted into our atmosphere annually, too.
• Americans use one million gallons of oil every couple of minutes.
• 200,000 people are moving away from cities every day because they can no longer support them.
• Every day, there are approximately 27 oil spills somewhere in the world.
• Americans throw away, rather than recycle, an entire commercial fleet of airplanes’ worth of aluminum every three months.
• 40% of all the water sold in the world as bottled water actually taps water.
• Paper can actually only be recycled six times.
• It costs 90% more energy to make new aluminum cans than to just recycle them.
• We use approximately 5 billion aluminum cans each and every year.
• We throw away each wood and paper every year would be enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
• It is estimated that only 10% of every landfill can be cleaned up.
• The billions of used batteries that are thrown away in America alone constitute to 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium in the landfills today.
• Disposing of just one gallon of motor oil improperly can end up contaminating up to 2 million gallons of water.
• Recycling just one aluminum can save enough energy to run a television for three hours.
• Using an automatic dishwasher rather than doing the dishes by hand can use an average of six gallons less hot water per cycle, adding up to over 2,000 gallons of hot water a year.
• Americans alone use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and the vast majority of these are thrown away.
• The population of people on Earth has grown more in the last 50 years than in the last 4 million.
• In 2012, the hole in the ozone layer was smaller than it has ever been in the last 10 years.
• Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, founded Earth Day in 1970 to raise public consciousness about environmental concerns such as pollution, oil spills, and vanishing wildlife. He tapped into the energy of the anti-war movement, framing Earth Day as a “national teach-in on the environment.”
• April 22 was chosen as the date for Earth Day because it fell between Spring Break and final exams, and organizers wanted to maximize student involvement.
• The first Earth Day in 1970 inspired the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, according to the EPA.
• The theme for Earth Day 2020 is Climate Action.
• Around 1 billion people take part in Earth Day activities around the world every year.
• In the lead-up to Earth Day this year, millions of people worldwide will participate in Earth Hour on March 28. At 8:30 p.m. local time, people will participate in events and demonstrate their commitment to the planet. In past years, Earth Hour gatherings have contributed to real policy changes, including the creation of a marine protected area in Argentina and environmental protection legislation in Russia.
• On Earth Day in 2011, people planted 28 million trees in Afghanistan as part of a “Plant Trees Not Bombs” campaign.
• Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars (Order of the planets from the Sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (the dwarf planet)).
• The existence of water in the liquid phase on Earth is due to the temperature span that exists on the Earth: 0 – 100 degrees Celsius. Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius, thus converting it into gas and making it unusable for consumption by living beings including humans, animals, birds, etc.
• Earth is the only place in the solar system where water can be present in all three states – solid, liquid, and gas.
• We are all traveling around the Sun at an average velocity of 107,182 kilometers per hour. And at the same time, we are also spinning at an enormous speed – that could be 1000 miles per hour depending on your position on Earth.
• Earth receives between 100 and 300 metric tons of cosmic dust (the dust which exists in outer space, as well as all over planet Earth) every day (data collected from satellite observations.) However, some other estimates suggest that the incoming dust could be as low as 5 metric tons per day.
• Despite the fact that the earth is made up of more than 70% of water, do not be surprised to learn that water accounts for less than 1% of Earth’s mass.
• The force of gravity in the Hudson Bay region of Canada is less than that of the rest of the planet. There are various theories that scientists associate with this effect but no one is sure as to why this is the case.
• Earth, a pale blue dot, from a distance of 6 billion kilometers – as seen by Voyager 1 spacecraft.
• Tides in oceans on Earth happen due to the force of gravitation between the Earth and the moon. Moon pulls up water in oceans and even in lakes, due to its gravitational force.
• Earth has just one moon whereas Jupiter has 67 moons.
• The moon (radius – 1,738 kilometers) is the fifth-largest moon in the Solar System after Ganymede (orbits: Jupiter), Titan (orbits: Saturn), Callisto (orbits: Jupiter), and Io (orbits: Jupiter).
• The Moon reflects Sun’s light on the Earth when the Sun is on the other side of the Earth meaning when there is the night on one side of the planet.
• Earth is the only known planet that supports life. However, attempts are underway to help life survive on other planets like Mars.
• It is also the only planet not to be named after a Greek or Roman god. Jupiter is named after the king of Roman gods and Uranus is named after the Greek god of the sky. The name Earth comes from English/German, which means the Ground.
• Earth’s inner core has a temperature between 5400 and 6000 degrees Celsius. Thus, making it hotter than the surface of the Sun (surface temperature – 5500 Celsius).
• The thickest of all the four layers of the earth is the mantle, which is 2900 kilometers thick. This layer has a consistency of caramel and is composed of a hot mixture of molten rock.
• The thinnest of all the layers is the crust, which is on an average 30 kilometers deep on average on the ground. 
• Earth also has the largest natural satellite as compared to any other planet considering the size of Earth and the moon (the Moon is approximately 27% the size of the Earth.)
• Earth’s core is almost 85-88% iron and its crust is almost 47% Oxygen.
• Earth is also known as the “Blue Planet” because of its bluish appearance from outer space. Almost 70% of Earth’s surface is covered with water.
• There are five layers in Earth’s atmosphere including – the Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. Earth’s atmosphere is the thickest from ground level up to a height of 50 km and extends up to 10,000 km.
• Airplanes fly at a maximum altitude of 60,000 feet which is almost 18.288 km.
• Earth is the only planet that contains 21% oxygen in its atmosphere and liquid water on its surface.
• Light from the Sun reaches the Earth in approximately 8 minutes and 20 seconds.
• Almost 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans that contain 97% of the planet’s water. These oceans are home to great mysteries and tons of geographical features that are not even available on the land. E.g. Earth’s longest mountain range is also underwater.
• It is estimated that life initiated in the oceans some 3.8 billion years ago. 
• Earth has no rings. However, Jupiter has 4 sets of rings and Saturn has 4 main groups of rings and 3 fainter groups of rings.
• Did you know that a magnetic field reversal takes place every 40,000 years on average? At the time of this reversal, the magnetic polarity of the earth will change which will bring a change in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field.
• The peak of Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, located just one degree south of the Equator is the highest point on Earth. At this point, the Earth’s bulge is greatest.
• “Challenger deep” – near a trench called the “Mariana Trench” beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean to the southeast of Japan — is the deepest known place on Earth. This trench is nearly seven miles deep.
• The Nile is the longest river on Earth that extends 6,695 km from its source in Burundi to the Mediterranean sea. However, Amazon is the biggest river in the world in terms of the water that flows down it.
• scientists have recently calculated that there are more than 1500 minerals that are still undiscovered in the Earth. We are aware of more than 5000 minerals but many are still unknown. Another captivating fact here is that the Earth’s mineral diversity is unique to itself and is not duplicated on any other planet, not even the rocky exoplanets.
• Carbon-di-oxide spitting lakes: there are three crater lakes – Nyos, Monoun, and Kivu, that sit in Cameroon and on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These lakes spit carbon dioxide at an enormous level and have been the cause of deaths of hundreds of people in the past. This phenomenon happens because of the presence of magma below the surface of the lakes and this magma releases carbon dioxide into the water which causes the resulting spewing of the gas into the atmosphere.
• Twenty million Americans, or about 10 percent of the country’s population at the time, took part in events and demonstrations on the first Earth Day.
• The first Earth Day pushed environmental concerns onto the national agenda. That same year, Congress authorized the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Contrary to popular belief it does not take the Earth 24 hours to complete a single rotation, it actually takes it 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds to complete a rotation and astronomers call this a sidereal day.
• A year on Earth is not 365 days as widely thought, but rather 365.2564 days. The extra 0.2564 days is where the extra day that is added onto February every leap year, or every four years, comes from.
• Ever wondered why people call the Earth the Blue Planet? That’s because 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water!
• Of the 70% of water covering the Earth only 3% of it is fresh, and the other 97% of it is salted.
• Of this 3%, more than 2% resides in ice sheets and glaciers, meaning less than 1% is in lakes and rivers.
• Due to the amount of water covering the Earth, it would be one of the brightest planets to look upon from a distance due to the way in which the water would reflect the Sun’s rays.
• The Earth consists of 3 different layers: the Crust, The Mantle, and The Core. And each of these three different layers is made up of different elements.
• The Crust consists of 32% Iron, 30% Oxygen, 15% Silicon, 14% Magnesium, 3% Sulphur, and 2% Nickel – which totals 96%. The other 4% is made up of trace amounts of Calcium, Aluminium, and other miscellaneous elements.
• Before I tell you what the rest of the Earth’s layers consist of, here’s an interesting side-fact about the Earth’s Crust: it consists of different plates floating perpetually on the Earth's mantle, moving at the same rate that a person’s fingernails grow!

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