New Delhi, April 22 (IANS). Today Earth Day is being celebrated all over the world. On this occasion, the whole world is spreading awareness to protect our Blue Planet. A day that makes us realize the importance of our only home, the Earth, and the responsibility to protect it. This year the theme of Earth Day is “Our Power, Our Planet”. This unique “Blue Planet” of the solar system is not only the basis of life but is also very special due to its diversity, balance and mysteries. Come, let us know interesting facts related to the Earth on this special occasion.
Earth is the fifth largest planet in the solar system. It is third from the Sun and only slightly larger than the nearby planet Venus. The biggest specialty is that it is the only planet in our entire solar system where liquid water is present on the surface. Because of this water and favorable temperature, life is possible here. Earth’s vast oceans provided the site for life’s origins some 3.8 billion years ago.
The other planets are named after Greek or Roman gods and goddesses, but Earth’s name comes from the Old English and Germanic languages. It simply means “land”. In India we call it “Prithvi”, which is a name almost a thousand years old. This planet has different names in thousands of languages of the world, but it is the basis of life everywhere. The shape of the Earth is also special. Its equatorial diameter is about 12,756 kilometers. Its average distance from the Sun is 150 million kilometers i.e. one astronomical unit (AU). Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth. The Earth completes a rotation on its axis every 23.9 hours, creating day and night. It takes 365.25 days to revolve around the Sun.
Every four years an extra day is added to a leap year so that the calendar matches the rotation of the Sun. The Earth’s axis is tilted 23.4 degrees, due to this tilt the cycle of seasons occurs. This causes summer, winter, spring and autumn. Our moon makes Earth more special. Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has only one moon. The Moon keeps the Earth’s rotation stable, due to which the weather does not change much. Scientists believe that billions of years ago, after colliding with a big stone, some parts of the Earth broke apart and formed the Moon. The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 3,84,400 kilometers.
The structure of the Earth is also interesting. It is made up of four main layers – inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. The inner core is a solid sphere of iron and nickel where temperatures reach 5,400 degrees Celsius. The outer core is liquid and the mantle is the thickest layer. Earth has no rings.
But the matter of concern for the Earth is that due to the increasing effects of climate change, many features of the Earth are changing. Temperatures are rising, oceans are warming and the balanced system of life is being affected.
–IANS
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