The script and voiceover for this video were done by Fraser Cain, Publisher of Universe

Today, Make sure you check out his channel after this video.

Planet Earth. That shiny blue marble that has fascinated humanity since they first began

to walk across its surface. And why shouldn’t it fascinate us? In addition to being our

home and the place where life as we know it originated, it remains the only planet we

know of where life thrives. And over the course of the past few centuries, we have learned

much about Earth, which has only deepened our fascination with it.

But how much does the average person really know about the planet Earth? You’ve lived

on Planet Earth all of your life, but how much do you really know about the ground underneath

your feet? You probably have lots of interesting facts rattling around in your brain, but here

are 10 more interesting facts about Earth that you may, or may not know.

1. Plate Tectonics Keep the Planet Comfortable: Earth is the only planet in the Solar System

with plate tectonics. Basically, the outer crust of the Earth is broken up into regions

known as tectonic plates. These are floating on top of the magma interior of the Earth

and can move against one another. When two plates collide, one plate will subduct (go

underneath another), and where they pull apart, they will allow fresh crust to form.

This process is very important, and for a number of reasons. Not only does it lead to

tectonic resurfacing and geological activity (i.e. earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mountain-building,

and oceanic trench formation), it is also intrinsic to the carbon cycle. When microscopic

plants in the ocean die, they fall to the bottom of the ocean.

Over long periods of time, the remnants of this life, rich in carbon, are carried back

into the interior of the Earth and recycled. This pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, which

makes sure we don’t suffer a runaway greenhouse effect, which is what happened on Venus. Without

the action of plate tectonics, there would be no way to recycle this carbon, and the

Earth would become an overheated, hellish place.

2. Earth is Almost a Sphere: Many people tend to think that the Earth is

a sphere. In fact, between the 6th cenury BCE and the modern era, this remained the

scientific consensus. But thanks to modern astronomy and space travel, scientists have

since come to understand that the Earth is actually shaped like a flattened sphere (aka.

an oblate spheroid). This shape is similar to a sphere, but where

the poles are flattened and the equator bulges. In the case of the Earth, this bulge is due

to our planet’s rotation. This means that the measurement from pole to pole is about

43 km less than the diameter of Earth across the equator. Even though the tallest mountain

on Earth is Mount Everest, the feature that’s furthest from the center of the Earth is actually

Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.

3. Earth is Mostly Iron, Oxygen and Silicon: If you could separate the Earth out into piles

of material, you’d get 32.1 % iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium.

Of course, most of this iron is actually located at the core of the Earth. If you could actually

get down and sample the core, it would be 88% iron. And if you sampled the Earth’s

crust, you’d find that 47% of it is oxygen. 4. 70% of the Earth’s Surface is Covered

in Water: When astronauts first went into the space,

they looked back at the Earth with human eyes for the first time. Based on their observations,

the Earth acquired the nickname the “Blue Planet:. And it’s no surprise, seeing as

how 70% of our planet is covered with oceans. The remaining 30% is the solid crust that

is located above sea level, hence why it is called the “continental crust”.

5. The Earth’s Atmosphere Extends to a Distance of 10,000 km:

Earth’s atmosphere is thickest within the first 50 km from the surface or so, but it

actually reaches out to about 10,000 km into space. It is made up of five main layers – the

Troposphere, the Stratosphere, the Mesosphere, the Thermosphere, and the Exosphere. As a

rule, air pressure and density decrease the higher one goes into the atmosphere and the

farther one is from the surface. The bulk of the Earth’s atmosphere is down

near the Earth itself. In fact, 75% of the Earth’s atmosphere is contained within the

first 11 km above the planet’s surface. However, the outermost layer (the Exosphere)

is the largest, extending from the exobase – located at the top of the thermosphere

at an altitude of about 700 km above sea level – to about 10,000 km (6,200 mi). The exosphere

merges with the emptiness of outer space, where there is no atmosphere.

The exosphere is mainly composed of extremely low densities of hydrogen, helium and several

heavier molecules – including nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. The atoms and molecules

are so far apart that the exosphere no longer behaves like a gas, and the particles constantly

escape into space. These free-moving particles follow ballistic trajectories and may migrate

in and out of the magnetosphere or with the solar wind.

Want more planet Earth facts? We’re halfway through. Here come 5 more!

6. The Earth’s Molten Iron Core Creates a Magnetic Field:

The Earth is like a great big magnet, with poles at the top and bottom near to the actual

geographic poles. The magnetic field it creates extends thousands of kilometers out from the

surface of the Earth – forming a region called the “magnetosphere“. Scientists

think that this magnetic field is generated by the molten outer core of the Earth, where

heat creates convection motions of conducting materials to generate electric currents.

Be grateful for the magnetosphere. Without it, particles from the Sun’s solar wind

would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts

of radiation. Instead, the magnetosphere channels the solar wind around the Earth, protecting

us from harm. Scientists have also theorized that Mars’ thin atmosphere is due to it

having a weak magnetosphere compared to Earth’s, which allowed solar wind to slowly strip it

away. 7. Earth Doesn’t Take 24 Hours to Rotate

on its Axis: It actually takes 23 hours, 56 minutes and

4 seconds for the Earth to rotate once completely on its axis, which astronomers refer to as

a Sidereal Day. Now wait a second, doesn’t that mean that a day is 4 minutes shorter

than we think it is? You’d think that this time would add up, day by day, and within

a few months, day would be night, and night would be day.

But remember that the Earth orbits around the Sun. Every day, the Sun moves compared

to the background stars by about 1° – about the size of the Moon in the sky. And so, if

you add up that little motion from the Sun that we see because the Earth is orbiting

around it, as well as the rotation on its axis, you get a total of 24 hours.

This is what is known as a Solar Day, which – contrary to a Sidereal Day – is the

amount of time it takes the Sun to return to the same place in the sky.

8. A year on Earth isn’t 365 days: It’s actually 365.2564 days. It’s this

extra .2564 days that creates the need for a Leap Year once ever four years.

9. Earth has 1 Moon and 2 Co-Orbital Satellites: As you’re probably aware, Earth has 1 moon

(aka. The Moon). Plenty is known about this body and we have written many articles about

it, so we won’t go into much detail there. But did you know there are 2 additional asteroids

locked into a co-orbital orbits with Earth? They’re called 3753 Cruithne and 2002 AA29,

which are part of a larger population of asteroids known as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

The asteroid known as 3753 Cruithne measures 5 km across, and is sometimes called “Earth’s

second moon”. It doesn’t actually orbit the Earth, but has a synchronized orbit with

our home planet. It also has an orbit that makes it look like it’s following the Earth

in orbit, but it’s actually following its own, distinct path around the Sun.

Meanwhile, 2002 AA29 is only 60 meters across and makes a horseshoe orbit around the Earth

that brings it close to the planet every 95 years. In about 600 years, it will appear

to circle Earth in a quasi-satellite orbit. Scientists have suggested that it might make

a good target for a space exploration mission. 10. Earth is the Only Planet Known to Have

Life: We’ve discovered past evidence of water

and organic molecules on Mars, and the building blocks of life on Saturn’s moon Titan. We

can see amino acids in nebulae in deep space. And scientists have speculated about the possible

existence of life beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon

Titan. But Earth is the only place life has actually been discovered.

But if there is life on other planets, scientists are building the observatories, space telescopes

and missions that will help find it. Huge new telescopes are under construction that

will directly observe the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, in search of biosignatures

- evidence of life. Radio telescopes scan the skies for signals from extraterrestrials.

And new space missions are in the works to search for evidence of life on Mars and the

icy moons of the Solar System."

But for now, Earth remains the only place we know of where there’s life. Now that

is an interesting fact!

Huge thanks again to Fraser Cain for the script and for being the voiceover of this video,

click on the link here or in the description to check out his amazing channel.