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2 days ago · Earth, third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system in terms of size and mass. Its single most outstanding feature is that its near-surface environments are the only places in the universe known to harbor life. Learn more about development and composition of Earth in this article.
- Planetary Differentiation
Earth - Differentiation, Formation, Structure: Once hot,...
- The Atmosphere
Earth - Atmosphere, Climate, Ozone: Earth is surrounded by a...
- The Interior
Earth - Core, Mantle, Crust: More than 90 percent of Earth’s...
- Basic Planetary Data
Earth - Planet, Atmosphere, Geology: The mean distance of...
- The Outer Shell
Earth - Core, Crust, Mantle: Earth’s outermost, rigid, rocky...
- Impacts, Planetesimals, Craters
Earth - Impacts, Planetesimals, Craters: During its...
- Accretion, Formation, Core
Earth - Accretion, Formation, Core: As the gas making up the...
- Structure, Composition, Development
Earth - Structure, Composition, Development: The origin of...
- Planetary Differentiation
The pedosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's land surface and is composed of soil and subject to soil formation processes. Soil is crucial for land to be arable. Earth's total arable land is 10.7% of the land surface, with 1.3% being permanent cropland.
- Namesake. The name Earth is at least 1,000 years old. All of the planets, except for Earth, were named after Greek and Roman gods and goddesses. However, the name Earth is a Germanic word, which simply means “the ground.”
- Potential for Life. Earth has a very hospitable temperature and mix of chemicals that have made life abundant here. Most notably, Earth is unique in that most of our planet is covered in liquid water, since the temperature allows liquid water to exist for extended periods of time.
- Size and Distance. With an equatorial diameter of 7926 miles (12,760 kilometers), Earth is the biggest of the terrestrial planets and the fifth largest planet in our solar system.
- Orbit and Rotation. As Earth orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 23.9 hours. It takes 365.25 days to complete one trip around the Sun. That extra quarter of a day presents a challenge to our calendar system, which counts one year as 365 days.
Core, mantle, and crust are divisions based on composition. The crust makes up less than 1 percent of Earth by mass, consisting of oceanic crust and continental crust is often more felsic rock. The mantle is hot and represents about 68 percent of Earth’s mass. Finally, the core is mostly iron metal. The core makes up about 31% of the Earth.
In Earth: The interior of Earth. More than 90 percent of Earth’s mass is composed of iron, oxygen, silicon, and magnesium, elements that can form the crystalline minerals known as silicates. Nevertheless, in chemical and mineralogical composition, as in physical properties, Earth is far from homogeneous. Apart from the superficial lateral ...
The Earth is a. planet. and is roughly the shape of a. sphere. There are three layers that make up the Earth’s structure. The three layers, starting from the outside, are: the crust – the ...
Jan 21, 2023 · The lack of many overt signs of these collisions (such as craters, for example) testifies to the dynamic processes at work on the Earth’s surface and beneath it. Chemical Composition of the Earth The earth is composed of 90 chemical elements, of which 81 have at least one stable isotope.
