10 interesting facts about the Earth you may not know

The planet Earth is a shiny blue marble that appeals to mankind for the first time when humans can set foot on its surface. The Earth is not only a place where people can live - but is also known as the origin of life and the only planet in existence. Over the past few centuries, we have learned a lot about the Earth - which always attracts us.

But how many people really understand the planet Earth ? Since we were born, we have lived on this planet, but do we understand the ground at our feet? Earth - our " green house " always contains strange and interesting stories that not everyone can know and below are 10 facts about the Earth that you need to know.

1. Build plate to keep the planet "comfortable"

Earth is the only planet in the solar system that has tectonic plates. Basically, the Earth's outer shell is divided into parts called " tectonic plates ". Those are things that rise inside the ghost of the Earth, which can be moved to other planets. When two slabs collide, a slab of rock will be pushed back ( down below the other slate ) and the place they separate will form a new crust.

Earth's tectonic plate.Photo source: msnucleus.org

This process has many important reasons. It not only rebuilds the surface and geological activity ( such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, volcanic mountains and ocean trench formations ), but is actually also a carbon cycle. When tiny plants in the ocean die, they will fall to the depths of the ocean.

Over long periods of time, the remnants of life, a large amount of carbon is pushed back into the Earth and recreated. This makes the carbon out of the atmosphere, ensuring that we are not affected by the uncontrolled greenhouse effect that occurs in Venus and the Earth will become a " terrible " hot place.

2. The Earth is almost like a sphere

People always assume that Earth is a sphere. In fact, this was only accepted by science in the middle of the 6th century BC and in modern times. Now, thanks to modern astronomy and astronautics, scientists have found that the Earth is shaped like a flat sphere ( known as a flat sphere ).

The Earth is almost spherical, has flat poles and an equator bulging. For Earth, this bulge is due to the rotation of the planets. This means that the distance from one extreme to another is about 43km shorter than the diameter passing through the Earth 'sequator.Although the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, in fact, if counted from the heart of the Earth, the Chimborazo mountain in Ecuador is the highest.

The layers of Earth include: Inner Core, Outer Core (Outer Core), Overlay (Mantle) and crust (Crust).Photo source: discovermagazine.com

3. The composition of the Earth is mostly iron, oxygen and silicon

When analyzing constituent materials on Earth , you will see 32.1% iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon and 13.9% magnesium. Of course, most of iron is in the Earth's core. In fact, research has found that Earth's core contains 88% iron, while Earth's crust is 47% oxygen.

4. 70% of the Earth's surface is water

Astronauts first enter space, observing the Earth with their eyes often called Earth with the nickname " Green Planet " - Blue Planet . It is understandable that when 70% of our planet is covered with water, 30% is a solid shell above sea level. So that is why it is called " continental crust ".

5. Earth's atmosphere is 10,000 km wide

The Earth 's atmosphere is the thickest in the first 50km from the surface, but it actually counts 10,000 kilometers of outer space. The Earth consists of five main classes - the peak of the troposphere ( Troposphere ), the Stratosphere , the middle layer of the atmosphere ( Mesosphere ), the upper atmosphere / thermosphere ( Thermosphere ) and the outer atmosphere ( Exosphere).According to the law of gas pressure and density decrease, the pressure of air entering the atmosphere is higher, the surface density will be thicker.

Earth is observed from the Apollo spacecraft's cabin.Photo source: NASA

Much of Earth 's atmosphere is just below the Earth. In fact, 75% of Earth's atmosphere is in the first 11km of the planet's surface. However, the outer atmosphere ( Exosphere ) is the largest, extending from exobase - at the top of the upper atmosphere about 700 km above the sea surface - about 10,000 km ( 6,200 miles ) above the water level. sea. The outer space is the empty layer of aerospace, where there is no atmosphere.

The outer layer consists mainly of extremely low density of hydrogen, helium and some heavier molecules such as nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Atoms and molecules lie far away from each other, the outer atmosphere is not where the gas works, molecular particles constantly escape from space. Molecular particles move freely according to the bullet trajectory and can move out into the magnetic field or with the solar wind.

6. Earth's melting iron core creates a magnetic field

The earth is like a giant magnet consisting of two poles on both ends - close to the actual geographic poles. The magnetic field extends thousands of kilometers to the surface of the Earth - forming an area called " magnetic field ". Scientists believe that this magnetic field is produced by the Earth's melting outer core - where heat generates convective movements of electrically conductive materials to generate electricity.

The image of the Earth's magnetic field and the dielectric effect in the core creates a magnetic field.Image source: ESA / ATG medialab

Please understand the magnetic field. Without a magnetic field, the particles from the Sun's solar wind would blow directly into the Earth, leading to a large amount of radioactivity on the planet's surface. Instead, the magnetosphere moves the solar wind around the Earth, protecting us from health damage. Scientists also hypothesize that Mars's atmosphere is due to a weaker magnetic field than Earth 's atmosphere - allowing the solar wind to slowly exit it.

7. The Earth rotates around the shaft without taking 24 hours

The fact that Earth rotates around its axis takes only 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds - astronomers call it an " Astronomical Day ". It doesn't mean that our day will be less than 4 minutes. The extra time will be accumulated every day, every month - the day is night and the night is the day.

Remember that the Earth revolves around the Sun. Every day, the Sun moves away from the stars in the sky about 1 ⁰ - compared to the size of the moon in the sky. And so, if we add motion from the Sun, we will see that the Earth orbiting the Sun is like spinning around its axis, which will take a total of 24 hours.

It is called " Sun Day " - different from " Astronomy Day " - the time for the Sun to return to the old position in the sky. The difference between them is the time when stars appear in the same place in the sky and the location of the sunrise and sunset.

8. One year on Earth is not 365 days

In fact, there are 365.2564 days a year on Earth. The balance of 0.2564 days creates a leap year every 4 years. That's why, every four years, add one day in February like 2004, 2008, and 2012, . The exception in this rule is if the number of years is divisible by 100 (year 1900, year 2100, .) and divided by 400 (1600, 2000, .).

9. The Earth has a Moon and two satellites with orbit

As you know, Earth has only one Moon . But do you know that our Earth has two other asteroids in orbit around the Earth? They are called 3753 cruithne ( a main belt asteroid flying around the Sun ) and 2002 AA29 ( an object close to Earth and about to be captured by the Earth by satellites ), most asteroids - are called is Near-Earth Objects (NEOs ).

The asteroid 3753 cruithne is 5 km long and is sometimes called the " Second Moon of the Earth ". In fact, it does not orbit the Earth but has a trajectory in sync with our planet. Moreover, this trajectory makes it look like it is following Earth in the same orbit, but in fact it follows a specific trajectory - orbit around the Sun.

Meanwhile, 2002 AA29 is about 60 meters long - is a horseshoe-shaped orbit around the Earth - 95 years new to Earth's planet once. About 600 years new appear around the Earth circle in the same satellite-like trajectory once. Scientists think it can perform well in space exploration.

10. Earth is the only planet in existence

We have found evidence of water and organic molecules on Mars and pre-built blocks of life on Saturn's moon satellite. We can observe amino acids in the nebula in the distant universe. Scientists have studied where life can exist beneath the ice cover of moon Europa Jupiter and Titan Saturn moon. But only Earth is the only planet that survives life.

Scientists are building a lab that helps find other planets that exist. For example: NASA has just announced the creation of Nexus's strange planetary science system ( Nexus for Exoplanet System Science. - NExSS ) - took the following years to study the data observed by Kepler space telescopes ( other unpublished tasks ) and the symbol of life on extrasolar planets .

The cracked and frozen Europa surface was observed by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1998. Photo source: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute

Recently, giant radio disks are scanning distant stars, collecting special signals about intelligent life reaching out into the interstellar space. Some new telescopes such as NASA's James Webb space telescope, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS ) satellite and the European Space Agency's Darwin mission may be modern enough. to feel life exist on other planets.

But it's interesting: "The Earth is still the only planet in existence that we know of ."