EARTH

The Earth, man's home, is a planet. It moves around the sun in a regular orbit, as do the eight other
planets in the solar system. Each of the solar planets has special characteristics, some of which are
well known to both scientists and the public in general. Saturn, for example, is surrounded by a set of
rings, and Jupiter is famous as the largest planet in the solar system. The Earth also has special
characteristics, and these are important to man. It is the only planet known to have the right
temperature and the right atmosphere to support the kind of life man knows. (See also Planets.)
The Earth's special characteristics make possible the kinds of environments and natural resources in
which plants and man and other animals can survive. This fact is so important to man that he has
developed a special science called ecology, which deals with the dependence of all living things upon
one another and upon their environments. Ecologists try to find out how the Earth's environments can
be preserved so that living things will continue to survive on the planet.
Some scientists believe that millions of planets in the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains the Earth,
may be able to support life. But no one can predict the forms that such life might take. An indication
of just how difficult such a prediction might be is illustrated by the vast variety of life forms on Earth.
Many millions of kinds of plants and animals have developed on the Earth. They range in size from
microscopic plants and animals to giant trees and mammoth whales. Distinct types of plants or
animals may be common in many parts of the world or may be limited to a small area. Some kinds
thrive under conditions that are deadly for others. So some persons suggest that forms of life quite
different from those known on Earth might possibly survive on planets with conditions that are far
different from conditions on Earth.
Many persons believe that the Earth is the only planet in the solar system that can support any kind
of life. Scientists have theorized that some primitive forms of life may exist on the surface of Mars,
but evidence gathered in 1976 by unmanned probes sent to the Martian surface seems to indicate that
this is unlikely.
Scientists at one time also believed that Venus might support life. Clouds always hide the surface of
Venus, so it was thought possible that the temperature and atmosphere on the planet's surface might
be suitable for living things. But it is now known that the surface of Venus is too hot--an average of
800o F (425o C)--for liquid water to exist there. The life forms man is familiar with could not
possibly live on Venus.
The Earth has excellent conditions for life. The temperature is cool enough so that liquid water can
remain on the Earth's surface. In fact, oceans cover more than two thirds of the surface. But the
temperature is also warm enough so that only a small fraction of this water is permanently frozen--
near the North and South Poles and on some mountaintops.
The Earth's atmosphere is dense enough for animals to breathe easily and for plants to take up the
carbon dioxide they need for growth. But the atmosphere is not so dense that it blocks out sunlight.
Although clouds often appear in the sky, on the average enough sunlight reaches the surface of the
Earth so that plants flourish. Growing plants convert the energy of sunlight into the chemical energy
of their own bodies. This interaction between plants and the sun is the basic source of energy for
virtually all forms of life on Earth. (See also Energy; Plant; Sun.)
Extensive exploration of the seafloor since 1977, however, has uncovered the existence of
biological communities that are not based on solar energy. Active areas of seafloor spreading, such as
the centers in the eastern Pacific that lie far below the limit of light penetration, have chimneylike
structures known as smokers that spew mineral-laden water at temperatures of approximately 660o F
(350o C).
Observations and studies of these active and inactive hydrothermal vents have radically altered
many views of biological, geological, and geochemical processes that exist in the deep sea. One of the
most significant discoveries is that the vents and associated chemical constituents provide the energy
source for chemosynthetic bacteria. These bacteria form, in turn, the bottom of the food chain,
sustaining the lush biological communities at the hydrothermal vent sites. Chemosynthetic bacteria
are those that use energy obtained from the chemical oxidation of inorganic compounds, such as
hydrogen sulfide, for the fixation of carbon dioxide into organic matter (see Deep-Sea Life).
Although the atmosphere allows sunlight to reach the Earth's surface, it blocks out certain portions
of solar radiation, especially X rays and ultraviolet light. Such radiation is very harmful, and, if the
atmosphere did not filter it out, probably none of the life forms on Earth could ever have developed.
So, the necessary conditions for these life forms--water, the right kind of atmosphere, and the right
amount and kind of sunlight--exist on the surface of the Earth. The Earth is the only planet in the solar
system known to have all of these "right" conditions.
The Earth's Place in Space
Despite its own special conditions, the Earth is in some ways similar to the other inner planets--the
group of planets nearer to the sun. Of these planets, Mercury is the closest to the sun; Venus is
second; the Earth is third; and Mars is fourth. All of these planets, including the Earth, are basically
balls of rock. Mercury is the smallest in size. Its diameter is about two thirds the greatest width of the
Atlantic Ocean. Mars is larger than Mercury, but its diameter is only a little more than half that of the
Earth. Venus, with a diameter of roughly 7,600 miles (12,000 kilometers), is almost as large as the
Earth.
Four of the five outer planets are much bigger than any of the inner planets. The largest, Jupiter, has
a diameter more than 11 times as great as that of the Earth. These four outer planets are also much less
dense than the inner planets. They seem to be balls of substances that are gases on Earth but chiefly
solids at the low temperatures and high pressures that exist on the outer planets.
The exact size or mass of Pluto, the most distant planet, is not known. Its composition is also a
mystery. All that is known for sure about Pluto is its orbit. Pluto's average distance from the sun is
almost 40 times that of the Earth.
At the outer reaches of the solar system are the comets. A comet consists of a nucleus of frozen
gases called ices, water and mineral particles; and a coma of gases and dust particles. Some comets
also have tails. A comet's tail consists of gases and particles of dust from the coma. As the comet
approaches the sun, light from the sun and the solar wind cause tails to form. For this reason the tails
point generally away from the sun.
Movements of the Planets
Each planet, including the Earth, travels around the sun in a regular orbit. Ancient astronomers
thought that the orbits of the planets were circular. It is now known that the orbits are elliptical,
though the orbits of most planets are almost circular. The Earth's orbital eccentricity--the extent to
which it departs from a perfectly circular path--is very slight. The orbits of Mercury and Mars are
more eccentric. But Pluto is the only planet that has a markedly elliptical orbit.
The planets nearest to the sun move faster than do those farther away. Mercury, the closest, orbits
the sun in about three months. Pluto, the most distant, takes 248 years to make one trip around the
sun.
To man, the Earth seems steady and immovable. It gives no sensation of motion, so it is hard to
realize how rapidly the Earth moves through space in its orbit around the sun. It takes a whole year to
make one round trip, which seems rather slow. But on the average, the Earth moves in its orbit at 18.5
miles (29.78 kilometers) per second, or 66,600 miles per hour.
Size and Movement of the Milky Way
While the Earth and the other planets move around the sun, the sun itself moves through a galaxy, or
large group of stars, called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a collection of about a hundred billion
stars. They are arranged in a disklike shape with a bulge at the center. This central bulge contains
about three quarters of all the stars in the galaxy.
No one has made exact measurements of the Milky Way. Clouds of dust block much of it from
view, and many stars between the Earth and the center of the galaxy obscure the center from sight.
Scientists, however, can see other galaxies in the sky. By comparing what they see with what they
know about the Milky Way, they can make rough guesses about its size and shape and the number of
stars it contains.
The Milky Way is almost 100,000 light-years in diameter, and its central bulge is about 10,000
light-years across. A light-year is an astronomer's measurement. It is a unit of length equal to the
distance light travels in one year. Light travels 186,300 miles (299,800 kilometers) per second. So one
light-year equals almost 5,880 billion miles (9,460 billion kilometers).
The Milky Way contains millions of stars similar to the sun. Among all stars, the sun rates as
average in size and temperature. But the sun is much larger than any of the planets in the solar system.
It has a diameter of 865,000 miles, and a volume more than a million times as great as that of the
Earth. The star system closest to the solar system is the triple star system Alpha and Proxima
Centauri, 4.3 light-years away. The two nearest stars that resemble the sun in size and brilliance are
11 light-years away.
The whole Milky Way seems to be slowly rotating. The stars near the center probably move around
the hub faster than those near the edge, just as the planets nearest to the sun move faster in their orbits
than do those farther away. The sun is 30,000 light-years, or about two thirds of the way out, from the
center of the galaxy. Astronomers estimate that the sun with its planets will take about 200 million
years to make one trip around the Milky Way.
The Milky Way galaxy is part of a cluster of galaxies known as the Local Group. This group
consists of a total of 17 galaxies. All are within 2.5 million light-years of the Milky Way.
Other Planetary Systems
No one has ever seen planets around other stars. However, indirect measurements taken by
astronomers indicate that some nearby stars have large planets moving around them. For this reason,
it seems possible that many stars besides the sun may have families of planets in orbit around them.
It also seems possible that among the planets rotating around other stars, some, like the Earth, may
have the right conditions of temperature and atmosphere to support life. So, though the Earth is
unique in the solar system, the Milky Way may hold many other star systems, and planets much like
the Earth may be circling around their central sun.
The Planet Earth
For several hundred years almost everyone has accepted the fact that the world is round. Most persons
think of it as a sphere, somewhat like a solid ball. Actually, the Earth is nearly, but not exactly,
spherical. It has a slight bulge around the equator. Measured at sea level, the diameter of the Earth
around the equator is 7,926.6 miles (12,756.3 kilometers).
The distance from the North to the South Pole, also measured at sea level, is 7,900.1 miles (12,713.6
kilometers). Compared to overall diameter, the difference seems small--only 26.5 miles (42.7
kilometers). But compared to the height of the Earth's surface features, it is large. For example, the
tallest mountain, Mount Everest, juts less than 6 miles (9 kilometers) above sea level. The Earth's
shape has another slight distortion. It seems slightly thicker around the Southern Hemisphere than
around the Northern Hemisphere. This difference is, at most, about 100 feet (30 meters).
The shape of the Earth was originally calculated from measurements made by surveyors who
worked their way mile by mile across the continents. Today, artificial satellites provide a much more
accurate and complete measuring tool. Mathematicians carefully measure the orbits of artificial
satellites, then calculate the gravitational force that the Earth exerts on the satellites. From these
calculations, they can deduce the shape of the Earth. The slight bulge around the Southern
Hemisphere was discovered from calculations made in this way.
The Earth's Mass, Volume, and Density
The mass of the Earth has been found to be 6.587 ? 1021 tons (5.976 ? 1024 kilograms). In numerals
this would read 6 sextillion, 587 quintillion tons. Scientists measure the Earth's mass by means of a
very delicate laboratory experiment. They place heavy lead weights of carefully measured mass near
each other in an apparatus that measures the force of the gravitational attraction between them.
According to Newton's law of gravitation, the force of gravity is proportional to the products of the
two masses involved. The force of the Earth's gravity on the experimental mass is easily measured. It
is simply the weight of the mass itself. The force of gravity between two known masses in the
laboratory can be measured in the experiment. The only missing factor is the mass of the Earth, which
can easily be determined by comparison.
Scientists can calculate the Earth's volume because they know the shape of the Earth. They divide
the mass of the Earth by the volume, which gives the average density of the material in the Earth as
3.2 ounces per cubic inch (5.5 grams per cubic centimeter).
This average value includes all the material from the surface of the Earth down to the center of the
Earth. But not all of the material in the Earth has the same density. Most of the material on the
continents is only about half as dense as this average value. The density of the material at the center of
the Earth is still somewhat uncertain, but the best evidence available shows that it is about three times
the average density of the Earth. 1

1From Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia Deluxe © 1998 The Learning Company, Inc.