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Overview of Earth and Its Features

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only known place where life exists. It formed over 4.5 billion years ago and life appeared on its surface within the first billion years. Earth's atmosphere, magnetic field, and distance from the Sun have allowed life to persist for billions of years. The planet's surface is divided into tectonic plates that migrate over millions of years. About 71% is covered in oceans, while the remainder contains continents and islands. Earth interacts with the Sun and Moon, and its tilted axis produces seasons as it orbits the Sun. The Moon stabilizes Earth's axial tilt and slows its rotation. Human cultures have developed many views of the planet and now a modern perspective requires stewardship of

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Michael Serdadu Neraka
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8 views3 pages

Overview of Earth and Its Features

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only known place where life exists. It formed over 4.5 billion years ago and life appeared on its surface within the first billion years. Earth's atmosphere, magnetic field, and distance from the Sun have allowed life to persist for billions of years. The planet's surface is divided into tectonic plates that migrate over millions of years. About 71% is covered in oceans, while the remainder contains continents and islands. Earth interacts with the Sun and Moon, and its tilted axis produces seasons as it orbits the Sun. The Moon stabilizes Earth's axial tilt and slows its rotation. Human cultures have developed many views of the planet and now a modern perspective requires stewardship of

Uploaded by

Michael Serdadu Neraka
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Earth (or the Earth) is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest

of the eight
planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets. It is
sometimes referred to as the World, the Blue Planet,[note 6] or by its Latin name, Terra.[note 7]
Home to millions of species[17] including humans, Earth is currently the only place in the universe
where life is known to exist. The planet formed 4.54 billion years ago,[18] and life appeared on its
surface within a billion years. Since then, Earth's biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and
other abiotic conditions on the planet, enabling the proliferation of aerobic organisms as well as the
formation of the ozone layer which, together with Earth's magnetic field, blocks harmful solar
radiation, permitting life on land.[19] The physical properties of the Earth, as well as its geological
history and orbit, have allowed life to persist during this period. Without intervention, the planet could
be expected to continue supporting life for between 0.5[20] and 2.3 billion[21] years, after which the
rising luminosity and expansion of the Sun—as a result of the gradual but inexorable depletion of its
hydrogen fuel—would eventually eliminate the planet's biosphere.[22]
Earth's outer surface is divided into several rigid segments, or tectonic plates, that gradually migrate
across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of the surface is covered with
salt water oceans, the remainder consisting of continents and islands which together have many lakes
and other sources of water contributing to the hydrosphere. Liquid water, necessary for all known life,
is not known to exist on any other planet's surface.[note 8][note 9] Earth's poles are mostly covered
with solid ice (Antarctic ice sheet) or sea ice (Arctic ice cap). The planet's interior remains active, with
a thick layer of relatively solid mantle, a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field, and a solid
iron inner core.
Earth interacts with other objects in space, especially the Sun and the Moon. At present, Earth orbits the
Sun once for every roughly 366.26 times it rotates about its axis. This is a sidereal year, which is equal
to 365.26 solar days.[note 10] The Earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular to
its orbital plane,[23] producing seasonal variations on the planet's surface with a period of one tropical
year (365.24 solar days). Earth's only known natural satellite, the Moon, which began orbiting it about
4.53 billion years ago, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet's
rotation. Between approximately 3.8 billion and 4.1 billion years ago, numerous asteroid impacts
during the Late Heavy Bombardment caused significant changes to the greater surface environment.
Both the mineral resources of the planet, as well as the products of the biosphere, contribute resources
that are used to support a global human population. These inhabitants are grouped into about 200
independent sovereign states, which interact through diplomacy, travel, trade, and military action.
Human cultures have developed many views of the planet, including personification as a deity, a belief
in a flat Earth or in Earth as the center of the universe, and a modern perspective of the world as an
integrated environment that requires stewardship.
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