Earth is a mystical place, and with the history of humankind being a mere blip in the 4.5 billion year timeline of our planet, there’s is so much to still discover. Below are the 10 amazing things about our planet that will blow your mind!
1) We’ve never dug through the mantle
Although we are still not certain, but the inner core of your planet is thought to be solid while the outer core being covered in liquid and molten lava. But, we still can’t say anything conclusively since the deepest well that mankind has dug so far was 12.3 km deep in the Kola borehole in Russia, which when compared with the 2,900 km total depth, is peanuts.
2) The poles can change
Believe it or not, but earth’s magnetic poles flip their direction every 10 million years ago. This will happen again in about the same time and no one knows why!
3) Earth had two moons
Astronomers say that our planet had two satellites about 4.6 million years ago. The second moon was about 1,200 km in diameter and held the same orbit as our current moon until they collided, which explains the stark difference in the two sides of our current moon.
4) Earth spins really fast
While we don’t feel it due to the force of gravity and the lack of relative motion, Earth is actually spinning at a whopping speed of 1,600 km/h. It’s orbiting speed around the sun is even faster, around 108,000 km/h.
5) Time is “growing”
620 million years ago, our day on Earth was jut 21.9 hours. The Earth is slowing down at at a rate of about 70 msec per 100 years. This means that it would take 100M years for an average day to last 24 hours.
6) Strange gravity
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, but out planet has all kinds of high and low gravity areas, with one such anomaly lying in the Hudson Bay in Canada. For that particular area, scientists concluded that the weak gravity originates due to the low density of Earth resulting from the rapid glacier meltdown.
7) Hottest and coldest points on Earth
The hottest place on Earth is Aziziya of Libya, with a record temperature of +58°C. On the other hand, the coldest place is the Antarctic, where the temperature was recorded at -73°C. Though the lowest temperature ever observed was at the Russian Vostok Station on July 21, 1983 as -89.2°C.
8) Earth is made up of iron, oxygen, and silicon
The constituents of the planets include 32.1% iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium. 90% of iron is stored in the core, with the crust containing the most oxygen (47%).
9) Earth used to be purple
Out landscape wasn’t all green in ancient times. Before chlorophyll, the plants used retinal to absorb the light, making them reflect back red and blue, but not green, creating a purplish aura. We know this as certain bacteria still use retinal to create energy and food for their survival!
10) A hidden ocean
Around 410-660 km below Earth’s crust, scientists have found a huge water pool. The pool is 2.7 billion years old and is under immense pressure. The water body has a volume large enough to fill all Earth’s oceans three times over, and led many scientists to believe that oceans are formed after an underground ocean explosion.
What do you think about these amazing facts and figures about our very own planet Earth? Share in the comments section below.
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