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Origin and Evolution of Earth, Report in Brief
Questions about the origin and nature of Earth and the life on it have long p...
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Earth means many things to the people who live on it. To a farmer, earth is rich soil. Toa road builder, earth means mountains of hard rock. For a sailor, earth is water as far asthe eye can see. A pilot's view of earth may include part of an ocean, a mountain, and patches of farmland. An astronaut speeding through space sees the earth's round shapeand the outline of lands and oceans. Each of these different views helps describe theearth but none really tells what the earth is.The earth is a huge sphere (ball) covered with water, rock, and soil, and surrounded byair. It is one of nine planets that travel through space around the sun. The sun is a star--one of billions of stars that make up a galaxy called the Milky Way. The Milky Way and billions of other galaxies make up the universe.The planet earth is only a tiny part of the universe, but it is the home of human beings andmany other living things. Animals and plants live almost everywhere on the earth'ssurface. They can live on the earth because it is just the right distance from the sun.Living things need the sun's warmth and light for life. If the earth were too close to thesun, it would be too hot for living things. If the earth were too far from the sun, it would be too cold for anything to live. Most living things--both plants and animals--also musthave water to live. The earth has plenty. Water covers most of the earth's surface.A thin layer of rock called the crust forms the earth's surface. All life on the earth isfound on this crust or in the water that covers about 70 percent of it. Beneath the crust ishot rock. A ball of metal lies at the center of the earth.The earth is always moving. It spins like a top and also travels around the sun at thesame time. We use these two motions of the earth to measure the length of days andyears. One day is the time it takes the earth to spin around once. One year is the time ittakes the earth to travel once around the sun. The earth, like some of the other planets,has a ball-shaped moon traveling around it. The other planets that have moons all havetwo or more, except Pluto, which only has one.The study of the earth is called geology, and scientists who study the earth are geologists.This article deals with the planet earth as it is studied in geology. For information on theearth as the home of human beings, see the article on WORLD in World Book.EARTH/The earth in the universeThe earth as a planet. The earth ranks fifth in size among the planets. It has a diameter of about 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers). The diameter of Jupiter, the largest planet, isabout 11 times that of the earth. The diameter of Pluto, the smallest planet, is less thanone-fifth the diameter of the earth.The earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun. Only two planets--Mercury and Venus--are closer to the sun. Scientists believe these planets have
surface temperatures of about 800 to 860 °F (427 to 460 °C). The average temperature of the earth's surface is 59 °F (15 °C). All the other planets except Mars are very cold, withtemperatures ranging from -236 to -369 °F (-149 to -223 °C). The highest daytimetemperature recorded on Mars was -24 °F (-31 °C) in summer. In winter, the lowestrecorded nighttime temperature was -191 °F (-124 °C).Only the atmosphere of the earth contains enough oxygen to support animal life. Theatmosphere of Mars consists chiefly of carbon dioxide, with only a trace of oxygen. Theatmosphere of Venus is also made up primarily of carbon dioxide. Mercury has very littleatmosphere. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have atmospheres that includehydrogen, helium, and methane, a gas that makes up most of the natural gas found on theearth. Pluto appears to have an atmosphere composed chiefly of methane.How the earth moves. The earth has three motions. It (1) spins like a top, (2) travelsaround the sun, and (3) moves through the Milky Way with the rest of the solar system.The earth spins around its axis, an imaginary line that connects the North and South poles. The innermost part of the earth, called the inner core, spins slightly more rapidlythan the remainder of the planet, as described in the section Inside the earth later in thisarticle.The earth's spinning motion makes the sun appear to move from east to west, and causesday and night on the earth. The "day" side of the earth faces the sun, and the "night" sidefaces away from the sun. As the earth spins eastward, some parts of the earth move fromthe night side to the day side. People who live in these regions see the sun "come up" inthe east. Other parts of the earth move from the day side to the night side. People livingthere see the sun "set" in the west.It takes 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds for the earth--except the inner core--to spinaround once. This length of time is called a sidereal day. See DAY.The earth travels 595 million miles (958 million kilometers) around the sun in 365 days 6hours 9 minutes 9.54 seconds. This length of time is called a sidereal year. During this period, the earth travels at an average speed of 66,600 miles (107,200 kilometers) anhour. As the earth moves around the sun, the night sky changes slowly. Some groups of stars are visible in the night sky, and other groups disappear into the sunlit day sky. SeeYEAR.The path of the earth around the sun is called the earth's orbit. The orbit lies on animaginary flat surface that cuts through the sun. This surface is the earth's orbital plane.The earth's axis does not stick straight up from the orbital plane. It tilts about 231/2degrees from the straight-up position. This tilt and the earth's motion around the suncause the change of seasons. For example, the northern half of the earth tilts toward thesun in summer. In winter, the northern half of the earth tilts away from the sun. SeeSEASON.
The whole Milky Way spins around like a giant wheel. The solar system is about three-fifths of the way from the center to the edge of the Galaxy. It revolves around the center of the Galaxy at a speed of about 155 miles (250 kilometers) per second.The earth and its moon. The earth has one moon. Pluto also has one moon, and Mercuryand Venus have none. All the other planets have two or more moons. The earth's moonhas a diameter of about 2,160 miles (3,476 kilometers)--about a fourth of the earth'sdiameter.The sun's gravity acts on the earth and the moon as if they were a single body with itscenter about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) below the earth's surface. This spot is theearth-moon barycenter. It is the point of balance between the heavy earth and the lighter moon. The earth and the moon circle around the barycenter as they travel around the sun.The path of the barycenter around the sun is a smooth curve. The earth circles the barycenter and so follows a "wobbly" path as it orbits around the sun.EARTH/Outside and inside the earthThe earth's shape and size. The earth may be thought of as a ball with the North Pole atthe top and the South Pole at the bottom. Halfway between the poles is an imaginarycircle around the earth called the equator. The earth is not perfectly round. It is slightlyflattened at the poles. The diameter of the earth measured from pole to pole is shorter than the diameter at the equator. At the poles, the diameter is 7,899.83 miles (12,713.54kilometers). This distance is 26.58 miles (42.78 kilometers) shorter than the diameter atthe equator--7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 kilometers).Similarly, the distance around the earth is shorter at the poles than at the equator. At the poles, the earth measures 24,859.82 miles (40,008.00 kilometers) around. At the equator,it measures 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 kilometers) around. It takes almost two days for a jet airplane to fly around the earth. An astronaut in space circles the earth in about 90minutes.The equator does not mark the earth's "fattest" part. The distance around the earth isgreatest along a circle slightly south of the equator. The earth's shape is somewhat likethat of a pear, which has its fattest part just below its "middle." But this bulge is so smallthat the earth still looks like a perfectly round ball.The earth's atmosphere. Air surrounds the earth and extends as far as 600 miles (1,000kilometers) above the surface. This air is called the atmosphere. Nitrogen makes upabout 78 percent of the atmosphere, and oxygen makes up about 21 percent. Theremaining 1 percent consists mainly of argon and small amounts of other gases. Air alsocontains water vapor and particles of dust. Clouds float in the lowest part of theatmosphere, called the troposphere. Wind, storms, and other weather features all take place in the troposphere. Other parts of the atmosphere are above the troposphere. Theair gets thinner the farther it is from the earth and fades into space about 600 miles (1,000kilometers) above the earth. See AIR.
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Earth Means Many Things to the People Who Live on It
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