essay about the earth unique planet

Short Essay on Our Planet Earth [100, 200, 400 words] With PDF

Earth is the only planet that sustains life and ecosystems. In this lesson, you will learn to write essays in three different sets on the planet earth to help you in preparing for your upcoming examinations.

Short Essay on Our Planet Earth in 100 Words

Earth is a rare planet since it is the only one that can support life. On Earth, life is possible for various reasons, the most essential of which are the availability of water and the presence of oxygen. Earth is a member of the Solar System. The Earth, along with the other seven planets, orbits the Sun.

One spin takes approximately twenty-four hours, and one revolution takes 365 days and four hours. Day and night, as well as the changing of seasons, occurs due to rotation and revolution. However, we have jeopardized our planet by our sheer ignorance and negligence. We must practise conservation of resources and look after mother earth while we have time.

Short Essay on Our Planet Earth in 200 Words

Earth is a blue planet that is special from the rest of the planets because it is the only one to sustain life. The availability of water and oxygen are two of the most crucial factors that make life possible on Earth. The Earth rotates around the Sun, along with seven other planets in the solar system. It takes 24 hours to complete one rotation, and approximately 365 days and 4 hours to complete one revolution. Day and night, as well as changing seasons, are all conceivable due to these two movements. 

However, we are wasting and taking advantage of the natural resources that have been bestowed upon us. Overuse and exploitation of all-natural resources produce pollution to such an alarming degree that life on Earth is on the verge of extinction. The depletion of the ozone layer has resulted in global warming. The melting of glaciers has resulted in rising temperatures.

Many animals have become extinct or are endangered. To protect the environment, we must work together. Conversation, resource reduction, reuse, and recycling will take us a long way toward restoring the natural ecosystem. We are as unique as our home planet. We have superior intelligence, which we must employ for the benefit of all living beings. The Earth is our natural home, and we must create a place that is as good as, if not better than, paradise.

Short Essay on Our Planet Earth in 400 Words

Earth is a unique planet as it is the only planet that sustains life. Life is possible on Earth because of many reasons, and the most important among them is the availability of water and oxygen. Earth is a part of the family of the Sun. It belongs to the Solar System.

Earth, along with seven other planets, revolves around the Sun. It takes roughly twenty-four hours to complete one rotation and 365 days and 4 hours to complete one revolution. Rotation and revolution make day and night and change of seasons simultaneously possible. The five seasons we experience in one revolution are Spring, Summer, Monsoon, Autumn, and Winter.

However, we are misusing resources and exploiting the natural gifts that have been so heavily endowed upon us. Overuse and misuse of all the natural resources are causing pollution to such an extent that it has become alarming to the point of destruction. The most common form of pollution caused upon the earth by us is Air Pollution, Land Pollution, Water Pollution, and Noise Pollution.

This, in turn, had resulted in Ozone Layer Depletion and Global Warming. Due to ozone layer depletion, there harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun are reaching the earth. It, in turn, is melting glaciers and causing a rise in temperature every year. Many animals have either extinct or are endangered due to human activities.

Some extinct animals worldwide are Sabre-toothed Cat, Woolly Mammoth, Dodo, Great Auk, Stellers Sea Cow, Tasmanian Tiger, Passenger Pigeon, Pyrenean Ibex. The extinct animals in the Indian subcontinent are the Indian Cheetah, pink-headed duck, northern Sumatran rhinoceros, and Sunderban dwarf rhinoceros.

The endangered animals that are in need of our immediate attention in India are Royal Bengal Tiger, Snow leopard, Red panda, Indian rhinoceros, Nilgiri tahr, Asiatic lion, Ganges river dolphin, Gharial and Hangul, among others. We have exploited fossil fuels to such an extent that now we run the risk of using them completely. We must switch to alternative sources of energy that are nature friendly. Solar power, windmills, hydra power should be used more often, and deforestation must be made illegal worldwide.

We must come together to preserve the natural environment. Conversation, reduction, reuse and recycling of the resources will take us a long way in rebuilding the natural habitat. We are as unique as our planet earth. We have higher intelligence, and we must use it for the well-being of all living organisms. The Earth is our natural abode, and we must make a place as close to Paradise, if not better.

Hopefully, after going through this lesson, you have a holistic idea about our planet Earth. I have tried to cover every aspect that makes it unique and the reasons to practise conversation of natural resources. If you still have any doubts regarding this session, kindly let me know through the comment section below. To read more such essays on many important topics, keep browsing our website. 

Join us on Telegram to get the latest updates on our upcoming sessions. Thank you, see you again soon.

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• What Makes Earth A Unique Planet In The Solar System?

In the solar system, the Earth is the third planet from the sun, and it is the only planet known to have life. According to different sources of evidence like radiometric dating, the Earth is believed to be more than 4.5 billion years old. Out of the four terrestrial planets , the Earth is the largest and densest planet. The lithosphere is made up of numerous tectonic plates that keep moving over millions of years. Water in the oceans cover about 71% of the total surface of the Earth, and the remaining 29% is covered by the continents and islands, which have rivers and lakes. The ability of the Earth to harbor life makes the Earth a unique planet in the solar system, and this stems from the fact that water in liquid form exists on the planet. Similarly, the existence of gaseous oxygen in the atmosphere of the Earth also supports life.

Evolution Of Life On Earth

It is believed that about 4 billion years ago, a chemical reaction was triggered which led to the first self-replicating molecules. Later, about half a billion years ago, the last common ancestor of all the present life forms arose. Photosynthesis evolved to allow the energy of the sun to be harvested, and the resulting oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere. The interaction between the oxygen and ultraviolet radiation from the sun led to the formation of the ozone layer, which is a protective layer in the atmosphere. The most important step was when the smaller cells were incorporated within larger cells leading to the development of larger and complex cells of eukaryotes. Multicellular organisms were formed when colonies of cells became more specialized. 

Tectonic Plates

According to some planetary geologists, the Martian surfaces have certain features that could indicate the planet may have had some active volcanoes in the past, particularly during its early phases when it was formed. Other than this possibility, which remains to be confirmed, no other planet in the solar system other than the Earth has tectonic plates. In this regard, the Earth is unique among the planets in the solar system due to the tectonic plates which are constantly moving because they are being driven by the convective loops of hot rock in the core. The lithosphere on our planet is divided into different tectonic plates, which move relative to each other at one of the three types of boundaries. At a convergent boundary, the plates shift towards each other, at divergent boundaries the plates move in the opposite direction away from each other, and at the transform boundary, the plates shift laterally past each other. A lot of activity occurs along these tectonic plate boundaries and they are associated with the formation of oceanic trenches , mountains, volcanic activity, and earthquakes. Currently, there are seven main tectonic plates, and they include the Pacific, South American, African, Indo-Australian, Antarctic, North American, and Eurasian. Other smaller plates include Scotia Plate located in South Atlantic Ocean, Nazca Plate which is found in the west coast of South America, the Caribbean Plate, and the Arabian Plate.

Origin Of Oxygen On Earth

The Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has oxygen in gaseous form. In its formative years, the Earth had an oxygen-free atmosphere, and it took several millions of years before oxygen was sufficient to keep organisms alive on our planet. Initially, the Earth's atmosphere was made up of nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. The rays from the sun were able to split carbon dioxide to free some oxygen and other molecules. During this early period, the oxygen created would disappear as soon as it was formed because of the ability of oxygen to form bonds quickly with other molecules. For instance, it would bond with hydrogen from volcanoes to form hydrogen peroxide among other compounds. About 3 billion years ago, the Earth's atmosphere had about 0.03% of the current oxygen levels in the atmosphere. At this time, some microbes had evolved and were able to carry out photosynthesis and generate oxygen.

The Earth's Biosphere

Different life forms on Earth inhabit different ecosystems and all ecosystems form the biosphere. The biosphere on Earth is divided into different biomes, and it is believed to have evolved over billions of years. On land, biomes are typically separated by humidity, height above sea level, and latitudes. Broadly similar animals and plants inhabit the same biome. A biosphere can be referred to as a zone of life on the planet Earth, and it is almost self-regulating.

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Home — Essay Samples — Science — Earth Science — The Beauty of Earth: An Essay on the Magnificence of Our Planet

The Beauty of Earth: an Essay on The Magnificence of Our Planet

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Published: Mar 8, 2024

Words: 598 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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The natural wonders of earth, the diverse inhabitants of earth, preserving the beauty of earth.

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• EO Explorer

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A photo-essay from NASA’s Earth Science Division — February 2019 Download Earth in PDF , MOBI (Kindle), or ePub formats.

Of all celestial bodies within reach or view, as far as we can see, out to the edge, the most wonderful and marvelous and mysterious is turning out to be our own planet earth. There is nothing to match it anywhere, not yet anyway. —Lewis Thomas

Sixty years ago, with the launch of Explorer 1, NASA made its first observations of Earth from space. Fifty years ago, astronauts left Earth orbit for the first time and looked back at our “blue marble.” All of these years later, as we send spacecraft and point our telescopes past the outer edges of the solar system, as we study our planetary neighbors and our Sun in exquisite detail, there remains much to see and explore at home.

We are still just getting to know Earth through the tools of science. For centuries, painters, poets, philosophers, and photographers have sought to teach us something about our home through their art.

This book stands at an intersection of science and art. From its origins, NASA has studied our planet in novel ways, using ingenious tools to study physical processes at work—from beneath the crust to the edge of the atmosphere. We look at it in macrocosm and microcosm, from the flow of one mountain stream to the flow of jet streams. Most of all, we look at Earth as a system, examining the cycles and processes—the water cycle, the carbon cycle, ocean circulation, the movement of heat—that interact and influence each other in a complex, dynamic dance across seasons and decades.

We measure particles, gases, energy, and fluids moving in, on, and around Earth. And like artists, we study the light—how it bounces, reflects, refracts, and gets absorbed and changed. Understanding the light and the pictures it composes is no small feat, given the rivers of air and gas moving between our satellite eyes and the planet below.

For all of the dynamism and detail we can observe from orbit, sometimes it is worth stepping back and simply admiring Earth. It is a beautiful, awe-inspiring place, and it is the only world most of us will ever know.

NASA has a unique vantage point for observing the beauty and wonder of Earth and for making sense of it. Looking back from space, astronaut Edgar Mitchell once called Earth “a sparkling blue and white jewel,” and it does dazzle the eye. The planet’s palette of colors and textures and shapes—far more than just blues and whites—are spread across the pages of this book.

We chose these images because they inspire. They tell a story of a 4.5-billion-year-old planet where there is always something new to see. They tell a story of land, wind, water, ice, and air as they can only be viewed from above. They show us that no matter what the human mind can imagine, no matter what the artist can conceive, there are few things more fantastic and inspiring than the world as it already is. The truth of our planet is just as compelling as any fiction.

We hope you enjoy this satellite view of Earth. It is your planet. It is NASA’s mission.

Michael Carlowicz Earth Observatory Managing Editor

The astonishing thing about the Earth... is that it is alive.... Aloft, floating free beneath the moist, gleaming membrane of bright blue sky, is the rising Earth, the only exuberant thing in this part of the cosmos.... It has the organized, self-contained look of a live creature, full of information, marvelously skilled in handling the Sun. —Lewis Thomas, The Lives of a Cell

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. —T.S. Eliot, “Little Gidding”

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. —T.S. Eliot “Little Gidding”

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. —John Lubbock, The Use of Life

Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books. —John Lubbock The Use of Life

ice and snow

It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living. —David Attenborough

Imagery and data courtesy of:

• NASA Earth Observatory
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA Landsat Program
• International Space Station (ISS) Crew Earth Observations Facility
• LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team
• MABEL Science Team
• Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive & Distribution System Distributed Active Archive Center (LAADS DAAC)
• EO-1 Science Team
• Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP)
• NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group
• NASA/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS/Japan ASTER Science Team

Adapted for the web by Paul Przyborski

About the Authors

Michael Carlowicz is managing editor of the NASA Earth Observatory. He has written about Earth science and geophysics since 1991 for several NASA divisions, the American Geophysical Union, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and in three popular science books. He is a baseball player and fan, a longtime singer and guitarist, and the proud father of three science and engineering majors.

Kathy Carroll supports the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. She previously worked as a manager and organizer at for-profit and non-profit organizations and on political campaigns. She is a diehard baseball and hockey fan, and she volunteers with animal rescue organizations.

Lawrence Friedl directs the Applied Sciences Program in the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. He works to enable innovative and practical uses of data from Earth-observing satellites. He has worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and as a Space Shuttle flight controller in NASA’s Mission Control Center. He and his wife have three children, and he enjoys ultimate frisbee and hiking.

Stephen Schaeberle is a graphic designer with the Communications Support Services Center at NASA Headquarters. He holds a bachelor of fine arts from the Pratt Institute, and he has received numerous awards and honors for his work and designs. He enjoys boating and fishing on the Chesapeake Bay.

Kevin Ward manages NASA’s Earth Observatory Group, including the Earth Observatory, Visible Earth, NASA Earth Observations (NEO), and EONET. He holds a master’s degree in library and information science and has spent more than 20 years developing Web-accessible resources in support of NASA Earth science communications. He and his wife have a son and a deep love of music.

Acknowledgments

Just a few names end up on the title page of a book, but it takes an entire cast of people to bring it from idea to draft to finished product. The cast for Earth begins with Maxine Aldred, Andrew Cooke, Tun Hla, and Lisa Jirousek, who shepherded the words and images through design and layout. Thanks are also due to Kathryn Hansen, Pola Lem, Rebecca Lindsey, Holli Riebeek, Michon Scott, and Adam Voiland, whose reporting and writing contributions gave this book its depth. Joshua Stevens, Robert Simmon, Jesse Allen, Jeff Schmaltz, Michael Taylor, and Norman Kuring applied their strong visual sense and processing skills to make each image pop with color and texture while remaining scientifically accurate.

We owe a debt to our scientific and outreach colleagues, who keep the satellites running, the sensors sensing, and the data and imagery flowing. Every one of the images in this book is publicly available through the Internet, truly making science accessible to every citizen. The Landsat teams at the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA, the LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, and the NASA Earth Observatory deserve extra gratitude for making our planet visible to the scientist and the layman every day.

ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Earth is the planet we live on, the third of eight planets in our solar system and the only known place in the universe to support life.

Earth Science, Astronomy, Geology, Geography, Physical Geography

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Learning materials.

• The active outer shell of Earth is dominated by tectonic plates, whose interactions result in volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and geysers. Click to visit MapMaker Interactive's layer on Earth's tectonic plates.

Earth is the planet we live on, one of eight planets in our solar system and the only known place in the universe to support life.

Earth is the third planet from the sun , after Mercury and Venus, and before Mars. It is about 150 million kilometers (about 93 million miles) from the sun. This distance, called an astronomical unit (AU), is a standard unit of measurement in astronomy . Earth is one AU from the sun. The planet Jupiter is about 5.2 AU from the sun—about 778 million kilometers (483.5 million miles).

Earth is the largest and most massive of the rocky inner planets , although it is dwarfed by the gas giants beyond the Asteroid Belt . Its diameter is about 12,700 kilometers (7,900 miles), and its mass is about 5.97×1024 kilograms (6.58×1021 tons). In contrast, Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has a diameter of 143,000 kilometers (88,850 miles), and its mass is about 1,898×1024 kilograms (2093×1021 tons).

Earth is an oblate spheroid . This means it is spherical in shape, but not perfectly round. It has a slightly greater radius at the Equator , the imaginary line running horizontally around the middle of the planet. In addition to bulging in the middle, Earth’s poles are slightly flattened. The geoid describes the model shape of Earth, and is used to calculate precise surface locations.

Earth has one natural satellite , the moon . Earth is the only planet in the solar system to have one moon. Venus and Mercury do not have any moons, for example, while Jupiter and Saturn each have more than a dozen.

Planet Earth  

Earth’s interior is a complex structure of superheated rocks. Most geologists recognize three major layers: the dense core , the bulky mantle , and the brittle crust . No one has ever ventured below Earth’s crust.

Earth’s core is mostly made of iron and nickel . It consists of a solid center surrounded by an outer layer of liquid . The core is found about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) below Earth’s surface, and has a radius of about 3,485 kilometers (2,165 miles).

A mantle of heavy rock (mostly silicates ) surrounds the core. The mantle is about 2,900 kilometers (1,802 miles) thick, and makes up a whopping 84 percent of Earth’s total volume . Parts of the mantle are molten , meaning they are composed of partly melted rock. The mantle’s molten rock is constantly in motion. It is forced to the surface during volcanic eruptions and at mid-ocean ridges .

Earth’s crust is the planet’s thinnest layer, accounting for just one percent of Earth’s mass. There are two kinds of crust: thin, dense oceanic crust and thick, less-dense continental crust . Oceanic crust extends about five to 10 kilometers (three to six miles) beneath the ocean floor. Continental crust is about 35 to 70 kilometers (22 to 44 miles) thick.

Exterior: Tectonic Activity

The crust is covered by a series of constantly moving tectonic plates . New crust is created along mid-ocean ridges and rift valleys , where plates pull apart from each other in a process called rifting . Plates slide above and below each other in a process called subduction . They crash against each other in a process called faulting .

Tectonic activity such as subduction and faulting has shaped the crust into a variety of landscapes . Earth’s highest point is Mount Everest, Nepal, which soars 8,850 kilometers (29,035 feet) in the Himalaya Mountains in Asia. Mount Everest continues to grow every year, as subduction drives the Indo-Australian tectonic plate below the Eurasian tectonic plate. Subduction also creates Earth’s deepest point, the Mariana Trench, about 11 kilometers (6.9 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The heavy Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the small Mariana plate.

Plate tectonics are also responsible for landforms such as geysers , earthquakes , and volcanoes . Tectonic activity around the Pacific plate, for instance, creates the Ring of Fire . This tectonically active area includes volcanoes such as Mount Fuji, Japan, and earthquake-prone fault zones such as the west coast of the United States.

Revolution and Rotation

Earth is a rocky body constantly moving around the sun in a path called an orbit . Earth and the moon follow a slightly oval-shaped orbit around the sun every year.

Each journey around the sun, a trip of about 940 million kilometers (584 million miles), is called a revolution. A year on Earth is the time it takes to complete one revolution, about 365.25 days. Earth orbits the sun at a speedy rate of about 30 kilometers per second (18.5 miles per second).

At the same time that it revolves around the sun, Earth rotates on its own axis . Rotation is when an object, such as a planet, turns around an invisible line running down its center. Earth’s axis is vertical, running from the North Pole to the South Pole. Earth makes one complete rotation about every 24 hours. Earth rotates unevenly, spinning faster at the Equator than at the poles. At the Equator, Earth rotates at about 1,670 kilometers per hour (1,040 miles per hour), while at 45° north, for example, (the approximate latitude of Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States) Earth rotates at 1,180 kilometers per hour (733 miles per hour).

Earth’s rotation causes the periods of light and darkness we call day and night. The part of Earth facing the sun is in daylight; the part facing away from the sun is in darkness. If Earth did not rotate, one-half of Earth would always be too hot to support life, and the other half would be frozen. Earth rotates from west to east, so the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west. 

In addition to Earth’s revolution and rotation periods, we experience light and darkness due to Earth’s axis not being straight up-and-down. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.5°. This tilt influences temperature changes and other weather patterns from season to season. 

The Spheres

Earth’s physical environment is often described in terms of spheres: the magnetosphere , the atmosphere , the hydrosphere , and the lithosphere . Parts of these spheres make up the biosphere , the area of Earth where life exists.

Magnetosphere

Earth’s magnetosphere describes the pocket of space surrounding our planet where charged particles are controlled by Earth’s magnetic field .

The charged particles that int eract with Earth’s magnetosphere are called the solar wind . The pressure of the solar wind compresses the magnetosphere on the “dayside” of Earth to about 10 Earth radii. The long tail of the magnetosphere on the “nightside” of Earth stretches to hundreds of Earth radii. The most well-known aspect of the magnetosphere are the charged particles that sometimes interact over its poles—the auroras , or Northern and Southern Lights.

Earth’s atmosphere is a blanket of gases enveloping Earth and retained by our planet’s gravity . Atmospheric gases include nitrogen, water vapor , oxygen , and carbon dioxide .

The atmosphere is responsible for temperature and other weather patterns on Earth. It blocks most of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation (UV), conducts solar radiation and precipitation through constantly moving air masses , and keeps our planet’s average surface temperature to about 15° Celsius (59° Fahrenheit).

The atmosphere has a layered structure. From the ground toward the sky, the layers are the troposphere , stratosphere , mesosphere , thermosphere , and exosphere . Up to 75 percent of the total mass of the atmosphere is in the troposphere, where most weather occurs. The boundaries between the layers are not clearly defined, and change depending on latitude and season.

Hydrosphere

The hydrosphere is composed of all the water on Earth. Nearly three-fourths of Earth is covered in water, most of it in the ocean. Less than three percent of the hydrosphere is made up of freshwater . Most freshwater is frozen in ice sheets and glaciers in Antarctica, the North American island of Greenland, and the Arctic. Freshwater can also be found underground, in chambers called aquifers , as well as rivers , lakes , and springs .

Water also circulates around the world as vapor. Water vapor can condense into clouds and fall back to Earth as precipitation.

The hydrosphere helps regulate Earth’s temperature and climate . The ocean absorbs heat from the sun and interacts with the atmosphere to move it around Earth in air currents .

Lithosphere

The lithosphere is Earth’s solid shell. The crust and the upper portion of the mantle form the lithosphere. It extends from Earth’s surface to between 50 and 280 kilometers (31 to 174 miles) below it. The difference in thickness accounts for both thin oceanic and thicker continental crust.

The rocks and minerals in Earth’s lithosphere are made of many elements . Rocks with oxygen and silicon , the most abundant elements in the lithosphere, are called silicates. Quartz is the most common silicate in the lithosphere—and the most common type of rock on Earth.

Cycles on Earth

Almost all materials on Earth are constantly being recycled . The three most common cycles are the water cycle , the carbon cycle , and the rock cycle .

Water Cycle

The water cycle involves three main phases, related to the three states of water: solid, liquid, and gas. Ice , or solid water, is most common near the poles and at high altitudes . Ice sheets and glaciers hold the most solid water.

Ice sheets and glaciers melt, transforming into liquid water. The most abundant liquid water on the planet is in the ocean, although lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers also hold liquid water. Life on Earth is dependent on a supply of liquid water. Most organisms, in fact, are made up mostly of liquid water, called body water . The human body is about 50 percent to 60 percent body water. In addition to survival and hygiene , people use liquid water for energy and transportation .

The third phase of the water cycle occurs as liquid water evaporates. Evaporation is the process of a liquid turning into a gas, or vapor. Water vapor is invisible and makes up part of the atmosphere. As water vapor condenses, or turns back into liquid, pockets of vapor become visible as clouds and fog . Eventually, clouds and fog become saturated , or full of liquid water. This liquid water falls to Earth as precipitation. It can then enter a body of water, such as an ocean or lake, or freeze and become part of a glacier or ice sheet. The water cycle starts again.

Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle involves the exchange of the element carbon through Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. Carbon, essential for all life on Earth, enters the biosphere many ways. Carbon is one of the gases that make up the atmosphere. It is also ejected during the eruption of volcanoes and ocean vents .

All living or once-living materials contain carbon. These materials are organic . Plants and other autotrophs depend on carbon dioxide to create nutrients in a process called photosynthesis . These nutrients contain carbon. Animals and other organisms that consume autotrophs obtain carbon. Fossil fuels , the remains of ancient plants and animals, contain very high amounts of carbon.

As organisms die and decompose , they release carbon into the ocean, soil , or atmosphere. Plants and other autotrophs use this carbon for photosynthesis, starting the carbon cycle again.

The rock cycle is a process that explains the relationship between the three main types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Unlike water in the water cycle and or carbon in the carbon cycle, not all rocks are recycled in different forms. There are some rocks that have been in their present form since soon after Earth cooled. These stable rock formations are called cratons .

Igneous rocks are formed as lava hardens. Lava is molten rock ejected by volcanoes during eruptions. Granite and basalt are common types of igneous rocks. Igneous rocks can be broken apart by the forces of erosion and weathering . Winds or ocean currents may then transport these tiny rocks ( sand and dust ) to a different location.

Sedimentary rocks are created from millions of tiny particles slowly building up over time. Igneous rocks can become sedimentary by collecting with other rocks into layers. Sedimentary rocks include sandstone and limestone .

Metamorphic rocks are formed when rocks are subjected to intense heat and pressure. The rocks change (undergo metamorphosis ) to become a new type of rock. Marble , for example, is a metamorphic rock created from rock that was once limestone, a sedimentary rock.

Earth’s Evolution

Earth and the rest of the solar system formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a huge, spinning cloud of gas and dust.

Over a period of about 10 million years, the dense center of the cloud grew very hot. This massive center became the sun. The rest of the particles and objects continued to revolve around the sun, colliding with each other in clumps. Eventually, these clumps compressed into planets, asteroids , and moons. This process generated a lot of heat. 

Eventually, Earth began to cool and its materials began to separate. Lighter materials floated upward and formed a thin crust. Heavier materials sank toward Earth’s center. Eventually, three main layers formed: the core, the mantle, and the crust.

As Earth’s internal structure developed, gases released from the interior mixed together, forming a thick, steamy atmosphere around the planet. Water vapor condensed, and was augmented by water from asteroids and comets that continued to crash to Earth. Rain began to fall and liquid water slowly filled basins in Earth’s crust, forming a primitive ocean that covered most of the planet. Today, ocean waters continue to cover nearly three-quarters of our planet.

The end of Earth will come with the end of the sun. In a few billion years, the sun will no longer be able to sustain the nuclear reactions that keep its mass and luminosity consistent . First, the sun will lose more than a quarter of its mass, which will loosen its gravitational hold on Earth. Earth’s orbit will widen to about 1.7 AU. But the sun will also gain volume, expanding to about 250 times its current size. The sun in this red giant phase will drag Earth into its own fiery atmosphere, destroying the planet.

Eras on Earth

Paleontologists , geologists, and other scientists divide Earth’s history into time periods. The largest time period is the supereon , and only applies to one unit of time, the Precambrian . Eons , eras, and periods are smaller units of geologic time.

Most of Earth’s history took place in the Pre cambrian , which began when Earth was cooling and ended about 542 million years ago. Life began in the Precambrian, in the forms of bacteria and other single-celled organisms. Fossils from the Precambrian are rare and difficult to study. The Precambrian supereon is usually broken into three eons: the Hadean , the Archaean , and the Proterozoic .

We are currently living in the Phanerozoic eon.

The first major era of the Phanerozoic is called the Paleozoic, and the Cambrian is the first period of the Paleozoic era . “The Cambrian Explosion of Life ” was the rapid appearance of almost all forms of life. Paleontologists and geologists have studied fossils of archaea , bacteria, algae , fungi , plants, and animals that lived during the Cambrian period. The Cambrian was followed by the Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian periods.

The Mesozoic era began about 251 million years ago. This was the era when dinosaurs flourished . The Mezozoic has three periods: the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous.

We currently live in the Cenozoic era, which began about 65 million years ago. The Cenozoic is generally marked by three periods: the Paleogene, the Neogene, and the Quaternary . We live in the Quaternary period, which began about 2.5 million years ago. All ancestors of Homo sapiens (modern humans) evolved during the Quaternary.

Earth by the Numbers

Surface Gravity: 1 (one kilogram on Earth)

Orbital Period: 365.256 days

Satellites: 1 (the Moon)

Atmosphere: nitrogen (78%), oxygen (21%), argon, carbon dioxide, neon

Average Temperature: 15° Celsius (77 Kelvin, 59° Fahrenheit)

Ingredients for Life Scientists have gathered enough information about other planets in our solar system to know that none can support life as we know it. Life is not possible without a stable atmosphere containing the right chemical ingredients for living organisms: hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. These ingredients must be balanced—not too thick or too thin. Life also depends on the presence of water. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all have atmospheres made mostly of hydrogen and helium. These planets are called gas giants, because they are mostly made of gas and do not have a solid outer crust. Mercury and Mars have some of the right ingredients, but their atmospheres are far too thin to support life. The atmosphere of Venus is too thick—the planet's surface temperature is more than 460 degrees Celsius (860 degrees Fahrenheit). Jupiter's moon Europa has a thin atmosphere rich with oxygen. It is likely covered by a huge ocean of liquid water. Some astrobiologists think that if life exists elsewhere in the solar system, it will be near vents at the bottom of Europa's ocean.

Earth to Earth Earth is the only planet in the solar system not named for a Greek or Roman deity. "Earth" originally meant the soil and land of our planet. (This is still what it means when the word is lowercase.) Eventually, Earth came to mean the planet itself.

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Earth, our home planet

Highlights Earth is the only planet known to support life. It offers liquid water, an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and protection from the Sun’s harmful radiation. By exploring the Cosmos, we learn more about Earth and how life evolved here. Asteroids occasionally impact Earth and cause widespread damage. With proper planning, we can prevent this natural disaster from happening.

Planet Earth: the only home we have

Of all the beautiful images humans and robotic spacecraft have captured while exploring our Solar System, perhaps none are more powerful than pictures of Earth. It can be profound and humbling to see our planet from deep space, as Planetary Society co-founder Carl Sagan eloquently explained in his 1994 book “Pale Blue Dot.”

Astronauts who travel to space experience what is known as the “overview effect” upon seeing Earth from afar. They often return home feeling a deep responsibility to preserve and cherish our planet. We know of no other habitable worlds like Earth, nor do we currently have the technology to terraform a world like Mars to make it Earth-like.

Earth is the fifth-largest planet in our Solar System and the third planet from the Sun. It sits in our Sun’s habitable zone , the not-too-hot, not-too-cold region around a star where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface. Our planet’s churning liquid-metal core generates a magnetic field that shields us from most of the Sun’s harmful radiation. A dense, oxygen-rich atmosphere provides a blend of gas that animals and plants use to grow and reproduce.

Earth Facts Earth's surface temperature: on average, 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) Average distance from Sun: 149,600,000 kilometers (92,900,000 miles) Diameter: 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles) Volume: about 1 trillion cubic kilometers (260 billion cubic miles) Gravity: 9.807 m/s² Solar day: 24 hours Solar year: 365 days Atmosphere: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon and 0.1% other gases

Images of Earth by Planetary Spacecraft

Many solar system explorers take dramatic photos of Earth as they depart, or fly by; some even have photographed Earth from the vantage point of another planet.

Exploring the Cosmos to learn about Earth

Why is Earth so unique among the worlds we’ve explored? Why did life evolve here but not elsewhere in our Solar System? The answers to these questions can only be found by exploring space.

Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago along with Venus and Mars . Space missions have shown us that Mars was once warm, wet, and had conditions favorable to life . Venus likewise may have once had global oceans .

Venus’ atmosphere heated up over time, creating a runaway greenhouse effect that dried up the planet’s water. Meanwhile, Mars lost its magnetic field, the Sun stripped away its atmosphere, and its water evaporated into space.

Fortunately for us, Earth’s water stuck around, allowing life to arise here between 3.5 and 3.8 billion years ago. How did we get so lucky, and what does that mean for Earth-like planets around other stars ? Did life ever exist on Venus or Mars, and if so, has any of it survived to the present day?

Planetary Defense

Space is vast, but it’s not empty. Small grains of space dust bombard Earth daily, burning up as meteors in our atmosphere. Some become meteorites that survive all the way to the ground. And occasionally, larger objects strike the planet, causing local or even global destruction.

Sixty-six million years ago, a large asteroid impact wiped out three-quarters of all life on Earth, including the dinosaurs. Large impacts are relatively rare, but under the right circumstances, an object just 20 meters (65 feet) wide could destroy an entire city. In 2013, an object that size exploded near Chelyabinsk, Russia , damaging buildings and sending hundreds to area hospitals.

Asteroid impacts are the only preventable large-scale natural disaster. To defend our planet, we must find asteroids with ground and space-based telescopes . Newly discovered asteroids must be tracked and characterized to determine whether they pose a threat to Earth. We must also develop space missions to test asteroid deflection techniques .

Learn more Earth's night sky: what you can see this month Lunar eclipses Mercury, world of extremes Jupiter, the planet with a planetary system of its own

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Planet Earth, explained

Our home planet provides us with life and protects us from space.

Earth, our home planet, is a world unlike any other. The third planet from the sun, Earth is the only place in the known universe confirmed to host life.

With a radius of 3,959 miles, Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, and it's the only one known for sure to have liquid water on its surface. Earth is also unique in terms of monikers. Every other solar system planet was named for a Greek or Roman deity, but for at least a thousand years, some cultures have described our world using the Germanic word “earth,” which means simply “the ground.”

Our dance around the sun

Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. Since our calendar years have only 365 days, we add an extra leap day every four years to account for the difference.

Though we can't feel it, Earth zooms through its orbit at an average velocity of 18.5 miles a second. During this circuit, our planet is an average of 93 million miles away from the sun, a distance that takes light about eight minutes to traverse. Astronomers define this distance as one astronomical unit (AU), a measure that serves as a handy cosmic yardstick.

Earth rotates on its axis every 23.9 hours, defining day and night for surface dwellers. This axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees away from the plane of Earth's orbit around the sun, giving us seasons. Whichever hemisphere is tilted closer to the sun experiences summer, while the hemisphere tilted away gets winter. In the spring and fall, each hemisphere receives similar amounts of light. On two specific dates each year—called the equinoxes—both hemispheres get illuminated equally.

Many layers, many features

About 4.5 billion years ago, gravity coaxed Earth to form from the gaseous, dusty disk that surrounded our young sun. Over time, Earth's interior—which is made mostly of silicate rocks and metals—differentiated into four layers.

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At the planet's heart lies the inner core, a solid sphere of iron and nickel that's 759 miles wide and as hot as 9,800 degrees Fahrenheit. The inner core is surrounded by the outer core, a 1,400-mile-thick band of iron and nickel fluids. Beyond the outer core lies the mantle, a 1,800-mile-thick layer of viscous molten rock on which Earth's outermost layer, the crust, rests. On land, the continental crust is an average of 19 miles thick, but the oceanic crust that forms the seafloor is thinner—about three miles thick—and denser.

Like Venus and Mars, Earth has mountains, valleys, and volcanoes. But unlike its rocky siblings, almost 70 percent of Earth's surface is covered in oceans of liquid water that average 2.5 miles deep. These bodies of water contain 97 percent of Earth's volcanoes and the mid-ocean ridge , a massive mountain range more than 40,000 miles long.

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Earth's crust and upper mantle are divided into massive plates that grind against each other in slow motion. As these plates collide, tear apart, or slide past each other, they give rise to our very active geology. Earthquakes rumble as these plates snag and slip past each other. Many volcanoes form as seafloor crust smashes into and slides beneath continental crust. When plates of continental crust collide, mountain ranges such as the Himalaya are pushed toward the skies.

Protective fields and gases

Earth's atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and one percent other gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and argon. Much like a greenhouse, this blanket of gases absorbs and retains heat. On average, Earth's surface temperature is about 57 degrees Fahrenheit; without our atmosphere, it'd be zero degrees . In the last two centuries, humans have added enough greenhouse gases to the atmosphere to raise Earth's average temperature by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit . This extra heat has altered Earth's weather patterns in many ways .

The atmosphere not only nourishes life on Earth, but it also protects it: It's thick enough that many meteorites burn up before impact from friction, and its gases—such as ozone—block DNA-damaging ultraviolet light from reaching the surface. But for all that our atmosphere does, it's surprisingly thin. Ninety percent of Earth's atmosphere lies within just 10 miles of the planet's surface .

The silhouette of a woman is seen on a Norwegian island beneath the Northern Lights ( aurora borealis ).

We also enjoy protection from Earth's magnetic field, generated by our planet's rotation and its iron-nickel core. This teardrop-shaped field shields Earth from high-energy particles launched at us from the sun and elsewhere in the cosmos. But due to the field's structure, some particles get funneled to Earth's Poles and collide with our atmosphere, yielding aurorae, the natural fireworks show known by some as the northern lights.

Spaceship Earth

Earth is the planet we have the best opportunity to understand in detail—helping us see how other rocky planets behave, even those orbiting distant stars. As a result, scientists are increasingly monitoring Earth from space. NASA alone has dozens of missions dedicated to solving our planet's mysteries.

At the same time, telescopes are gazing outward to find other Earths. Thanks to instruments such as NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have found more than 3,800 planets orbiting other stars, some of which are about the size of Earth , and a handful of which orbit in the zones around their stars that are just the right temperature to be potentially habitable. Other missions, such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, are poised to find even more.

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Essay on My Earth

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Earth in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Earth

Our home: earth.

Earth is our home, the third planet from the sun. It’s the only planet known to have life, with millions of species, including us, humans.

Earth’s Beauty

Earth is beautiful, filled with breathtaking landscapes. It has high mountains, vast oceans, and lush green forests that are full of life.

Importance of Earth

Earth provides us with everything we need to survive, like water, food, and air. Without Earth, we wouldn’t exist.

As residents of Earth, we must protect it. We should recycle, conserve water, and plant trees to keep our Earth healthy and beautiful.

250 Words Essay on My Earth

The essence of earth.

Our planet, Earth, is not just a celestial body that we inhabit; it is the source of life, a cradle of biodiversity, and a testament to the beauty of nature. It is a unique planet in the solar system, blessed with conditions suitable for life. The Earth’s significance transcends geographical boundaries, becoming a symbol of unity, interdependence, and survival.

Earth: A Life-Sustaining Ecosystem

Earth’s ecosystem is a complex, interconnected network that sustains life. It provides the resources we need to survive, from the air we breathe to the food we eat. The Earth’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere work in harmony to create a balanced environment. The Earth’s ability to sustain life is a testament to its resilience and adaptability, but it also highlights its vulnerability to human-induced changes.

Our Responsibility Towards Earth

As the most intelligent species on Earth, we humans have a profound responsibility towards its preservation. Our actions have significant implications for the Earth’s health. Climate change, deforestation, pollution, and overexploitation of resources are some of the critical issues that our Earth faces today. It’s our duty to mitigate these challenges and strive for sustainable living.

The Earth: Our Shared Home

In conclusion, Earth is our shared home, a life-sustaining ecosystem, and a symbol of unity and interdependence. Our actions today will determine the Earth’s future. As we navigate the complexities of the 21st century, let’s remember our responsibility towards Earth and strive to protect and preserve it for future generations.

500 Words Essay on My Earth

Introduction.

Earth, our home planet, is a vibrant, dynamic sphere teeming with life. It’s the only celestial body known to support life, and its intricate systems work together to create the perfect conditions for life to thrive. This essay explores Earth from a comprehensive perspective, delving into its physical characteristics, its role in the solar system, and the responsibility of humans as its inhabitants.

The Physical Attributes of Earth

Earth’s physical features are as diverse as they are awe-inspiring. From the highest peak of Mount Everest to the deepest trench in the Mariana, Earth’s topography is a testament to its dynamic nature. The planet’s surface is 70% water, primarily in oceans, and 30% land, comprising seven continents. The atmosphere, a protective layer of gases, shields us from solar radiation and meteor impacts. The Earth’s magnetic field, generated by its rotating iron core, further provides protection against solar winds.

Earth in the Solar System

Situated third from the sun in our solar system, Earth is in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ – a region not too hot, not too cold, but just right for life as we know it. This optimal positioning allows water to exist in all three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Earth’s axial tilt and its elliptical orbit around the sun result in the cyclical change of seasons, influencing the life cycles of numerous species.

The Biodiversity of Earth

Earth’s biodiversity is a treasure trove of life. From the microscopic organisms in the soil to the blue whales in the ocean, life on Earth is incredibly diverse. This biodiversity is not just about the number of species, but also about the variety of ecosystems and genetic diversity within species. Each species, no matter how small, plays a vital role in maintaining the balance of our planet’s ecosystems.

Human Responsibility

As the dominant species, humans have a profound responsibility towards Earth. Our activities have significantly impacted the planet’s environment, often to its detriment. Climate change, deforestation, pollution, and loss of biodiversity are some of the pressing issues that we face today. As stewards of the Earth, it is incumbent upon us to shift towards sustainable practices that ensure the health and longevity of our planet.

In conclusion, Earth is not just our home, but a living, breathing entity that deserves our respect and care. It is a complex system of interdependent parts, each playing a crucial role in maintaining the conditions necessary for life. As we move forward, it is pivotal for us to recognize our role in this system and take responsibility for its wellbeing. The future of our Earth depends on the choices we make today. Our actions, or lack thereof, will determine whether the Earth continues to be a nurturing home for generations to come.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on How to Save Earth
• Essay on Restore Our Earth
• Essay on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

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Planet Earth: Everything you need to know

Earth is the only planet known to support life. Learn about what Earth is made of and where it came from.

• Earth's orbit
• Earth's formation

Earth FAQs answered by an expert

• Earth's core
• Earth's magnetosphere

Earth's atmosphere

• Earth's composition

Earth's moon

Earth observation, life on earth.

Earth, our home, is the third planet from the sun . While scientists continue to hunt for clues of life beyond Earth, our home planet remains the only place in the universe where we've ever identified living organisms. 

Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. It's smaller than the four gas giants — Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune — but larger than the three other rocky planets, Mercury , Mars and Venus .

Earth has a diameter of roughly 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) and is mostly round because gravity generally pulls matter into a ball. But the spin of our home planet causes it to be squashed at its poles and swollen at the equator, making the true shape of the Earth an "oblate spheroid."

Related: How big is Earth?

Our planet is unique for many reasons, but its available water and oxygen are two defining features. Water covers roughly 71% of Earth's surface, with most of that water located in our planet's oceans. About a fifth of Earth's atmosphere consists of oxygen, produced by plants. 

Related: 15 places on Earth that look exoplanetary

Planet Earth's orbit around the sun

While Earth orbits the sun, the planet is simultaneously spinning around an imaginary line called an axis that runs through the core, from the North Pole to the South Pole. It takes Earth 23.934 hours to complete a rotation on its axis and 365.26 days to complete an orbit around the sun — our days and years on Earth are defined by these gyrations.

Earth's axis of rotation is tilted in relation to the ecliptic plane, an imaginary surface through the planet's orbit around the sun. This means the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will sometimes point toward or away from the sun depending on the time of year, and this changes the amount of light the hemispheres receive, resulting in the changing seasons .

Earth happens to orbit the sun within the so-called " Goldilocks zone ," where temperatures are just right to maintain liquid water on our planet's surface. Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle, but rather a slightly oval-shaped ellipse, similar to the orbits of all the other planets in our solar system. Our planet is a bit closer to the sun in early January and farther away in July, although this proximity has a much smaller effect on the temperatures we experience on the planet's surface than does the tilt of Earth's axis. 

Statistics about Earth's orbit, according to NASA :

• Average distance from the sun : 92,956,050 miles (149,598,262 km)
• Perihelion (closest approach to the sun): 91,402,640 miles (147,098,291 km)
• Aphelion (farthest distance from the sun): 94,509,460 miles (152,098,233 km)
• Length of solar day (single rotation on its axis): 23.934 hours
• Length of year (single revolution around the sun): 365.26 days
• Equatorial inclination to orbit: 23.4393 degrees

How did Earth form?

Scientists think Earth was formed at roughly the same time as the sun and other planets some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system coalesced from a giant, rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula . As the nebula collapsed under the force of its own gravity, it spun faster and flattened into a disk. Most of the material in that disk was then pulled toward the center to form the sun.

Other particles within the disk collided and stuck together to form ever-larger bodies, including Earth. Scientists think Earth started off as a waterless mass of rock .

"It was thought that because of these asteroids and comets flying around colliding with Earth, conditions on early Earth may have been hellish," Simone Marchi, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, previously told Space.com . 

However, analyses of minerals trapped within ancient microscopic crystals suggest that there was liquid water already present on Earth during its first 500 million years, Marchi said.

Radioactive materials in the rock and increasing pressure deep within the Earth generated enough heat to melt the planet's interior, causing some chemicals to rise to the surface and form water, while others became the gases of the atmosphere. Recent evidence suggests that Earth's crust and oceans may have formed within about 200 million years after the planet took shape.

Related: 10 Earth impact craters you must see

We asked Jack Wright an ESA Internal Research Fellow a few commonly asked questions about our planet, Earth.  

Jack Wright, is an Internal Research Fellow with the European Space Agency (ESA).  

What sets Earth apart from other planets in the solar system?

From what we know so far, Earth is the only planet that hosts life and the only one in the Solar System with liquid water on the surface. Earth is also the only planet in the solar system with active plate tectonics, where the surface of the planet is divided into rigid plates that collide and move apart, causing earthquakes , mountain building, and volcanism. Sites of volcanism along Earth's submarine plate boundaries are considered to be potential environments where life could have first emerged. 

What makes our planet uniquely suitable to host life?

Earth is the right distance from the sun, such that liquid water has been stable in significant volumes over much of the planet's lifetime. It has the right chemical ingredients for life (e.g. water and carbon), and chemical cycling (such as between the planet's interior and oceans by volcanism and other geological activity) provides chemical pathways for life to extract energy to survive. 

Additional factors that have allowed the evolution of complex life are an oxygenated atmosphere, and protection from solar radiation by its magnetic field.

Which planet is closest to Earth in terms of distance?

New findings show that considering the average distance, Mercury is the nearest planet to Earth; considering the smallest possible distance, instead, Venus is closest. 

Is Mercury the most similar to ours in the solar system?

No. Mercury has no atmosphere and it has an old surface covered in impact craters, so it is very unlike Earth. One similarity is that Mercury and Earth both have internally generated magnetic fields. Venus and Earth are very similar in size. There is emerging evidence for active volcanism on Venus, however, its atmosphere is up to 100 times denser than Earth's and is mostly carbon dioxide with sulfuric acid clouds. The surface of Saturn's moon Titan physically resembles Earth's, with mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas. The difference is that Titan's mountains are made from water ice, which is as strong as rock under its surface temperature (-180°C), and the rivers and seas are full of hydrocarbons.

How many planets in the Milky Way could have conditions like Earth?

Scientists estimated that 1 in 5 stars like our sun has one Earth-like planet orbiting around them, which may support life. Considering that there are more than 200 billion stars in our Milky Way, there might be an estimated 40 billion planets that might support life in our galaxy. 

Why is it vital to preserve our planet?

Earth observation from space provides objective coverage across both space and time. The same space-based sensor gathers data from sites across the world, including places too remote or otherwise inaccessible for ground-based data acquisition.

And because Earth observation satellites remain in place for long periods of time, they can highlight environmental changes occurring gradually. Looking back through archived satellite data shows us the steady clearing of the world's rainforests, an apparent annual rise in sea level approaching 2 mm a year, and the increase of atmospheric pollution.

In the long term, this monitoring of the Earth's environment will enable a reliable assessment of the global impact of human activity and the likely future extent of climate change.

The scientific evidence of global climate change is irrefutable. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching  —  affecting freshwater resources, global food production, and sea level and triggering an increase in extreme weather events. In order to tackle climate change, scientists and decision-makers need reliable data to understand how our planet is changing.

For more than three decades, Earth-observing satellites have been providing the facts needed to address the challenges of our changing world.

Earth is the only naturally habitable planet for complex (e.g. human) life in the solar system. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching and are already threatening some people's ways of life and damaging wider biodiversity. If Earth becomes uninhabitable we have nowhere else to go. Colonizing the Moon and Mars is no substitute for preserving Earth. The Moon and Mars cannot sustain Earth's population of humans and other organisms.

Earth's internal structure

Earth's core is about 4,400 miles (7,100 km) wide, slightly larger than half the Earth's diameter and about the same size as Mars. The outermost 1,400 miles (2,250 km) of the core are liquid, while the inner core is solid. That solid core is about four-fifths as big as Earth's moon, at some 1,600 miles (2,600 km) in diameter. The core is responsible for the planet's magnetic field , which helps to deflect harmful charged particles shot from the sun. 

Above the core is Earth's mantle, which is about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) thick. The mantle is not completely stiff but can flow slowly. Earth's crust floats on the mantle much as a piece of wood floats on water. The slow motion of rock in the mantle shuffles continents around and causes earthquakes, volcanoes and the formation of mountain ranges.

Related: Earth's layers: Exploring our planet inside and out

Above the mantle, Earth has two kinds of crust. The dry land of the continents consists mostly of granite and other light silicate minerals, while the ocean floors are made up mostly of a dark, dense volcanic rock called basalt. Continental crust averages some 25 miles (40 km) thick, although it can be thinner or thicker in some areas. Oceanic crust is usually only about 5 miles (8 km) thick. Water fills in low areas of the basalt crust to form the world's oceans.

Earth gets warmer toward its core. At the bottom of the continental crust, temperatures reach about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius), increasing about 3 degrees F per mile (1 degree C per km) below the crust. Geologists think the temperature of Earth's outer core is about 6,700 to 7,800 degrees F (3,700 to 4,300 degrees C) and that the inner core may reach 12,600 degrees F (7,000 degrees C) — hotter than the surface of the sun.

Earth's magnetic field

Earth's magnetic field is generated by currents flowing in Earth's outer core. The magnetic poles are always on the move, with the magnetic North Pole accelerating its northward motion to 24 miles (40 km) annually since tracking began in the 1830s. It will likely exit North America and reach Siberia in a matter of decades.

Earth's magnetic field is changing in other ways, too. Globally, the magnetic field has weakened 10 percent since the 19th century, according to NASA . 

But these changes are mild compared to what Earth's magnetic field has done in the past. A few times in every million years or so, the field completely flips, with the North and the South poles swapping places. The magnetic field can take anywhere from 100 to 3,000 years to complete the flip, Space.com previously reported .

The strength of Earth's magnetic field decreased by about 90 percent when a field reversal occurred in ancient past, according to Andrew Roberts, a professor at the Australian National University. The drop makes the planet more vulnerable to solar storms and radiation, which could significantly damage satellites as well as communication and electrical infrastructure.

"Hopefully, such an event is a long way in the future and we can develop future technologies to avoid huge damage," Roberts said in a statement .

When charged particles from the sun get trapped in Earth's magnetic field, they smash into air molecules above the magnetic poles, causing them to glow. This phenomenon is known as the auroras , the northern and southern lights.

Earth's atmosphere is roughly 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, with trace amounts of water, argon, carbon dioxide and other gases. No other planet in the solar system has an atmosphere loaded with free oxygen, which is vital to one of the other unique features of Earth: life.

Air surrounds Earth and becomes thinner farther from the surface. Roughly 100 miles (160 km) above Earth, the air is so thin that satellites can zip through the atmosphere with little resistance. Still, traces of atmosphere can be found as high as 370 miles (600 km) above the planet's surface.

The lowest layer of the atmosphere is known as the troposphere, which is constantly in motion and why we have weather. Sunlight heats the planet's surface, causing warm air to rise into the troposphere. This air expands and cools as air pressure decreases, and because this cool air is denser than its surroundings, it then sinks and gets warmed by the Earth again.

Above the troposphere, some 30 miles (48 km) above the Earth's surface, is the stratosphere. The still air of the stratosphere contains the ozone layer, which was created when ultraviolet light caused trios of oxygen atoms to bind together into ozone molecules. Ozone prevents most of the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation from reaching Earth's surface, where it can damage and mutate life.

Water vapor, carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun, warming Earth. Without this so-called " greenhouse effect ," Earth would probably be too cold for life to exist, although a runaway greenhouse effect led to the hellish conditions of Venus' current surface.

Earth-orbiting satellites have shown that the upper atmosphere actually expands during the day and contracts at night due to heating and cooling.

Earth's chemical composition

Oxygen is the most abundant element in rocks in Earth's crust, composing roughly 47 percent of the weight of all rock. The second most abundant element is silicon , at 27 percent, followed by aluminum , at 8 percent; iron , at 5%; calcium , at 4%; and sodium , potassium and magnesium , at about 2% each.

Earth's core consists mostly of iron and nickel and potentially smaller amounts of lighter elements, such as sulfur and oxygen. The mantle is made of iron and magnesium-rich silicate rocks (the combination of silicon and oxygen is known as silica, and minerals that contain silica are known as silicate minerals).

Earth's moon is 2,159 miles (3,474 km) wide, about one fourth of Earth's diameter. Our planet has one moon, while Mercury and Venus have none and all the other planets in our solar system have two or more.

The leading explanation for how Earth's moon formed is that a giant impact knocked the raw ingredients for the moon off the primitive, molten Earth and into orbit. Scientists have suggested that the object that hit the planet had roughly 10% the mass of Earth — about the size of Mars.

Astronauts and scientists have learned a lot about our planet by leaving it. From 240 miles (408 kilometers) away, aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts are able to observe the thin, fragile atmosphere of Earth. 

Meanwhile, satellites orbiting Earth can track the planet's responses to changes —caused naturally and by humans– on a greater scale. Satellites have been launched to detect changes in the hole in the ozone layer, monitor cloud coverage and weather patterns and manage humans' use of Earth's resources. 

Earth is the only planet in the universe known to possess life. The planet boasts several million described species, living in habitats ranging from the bottom of the deepest ocean to a few miles up into the atmosphere. Researchers think far more species remain that have yet to be described to science.

Researchers suspect that other candidates for hosting life in our solar system — such as Saturn's moon Titan or Jupiter's moon Europa — could house primitive living creatures. Scientists have yet to precisely nail down exactly how our primitive ancestors first showed up on Earth, although most believe that a chemical soup on the planet gave rise to the building blocks of living organisms. (The precise set of circumstances necessary to create life from a lifeless planet are pretty unlikely, according to previous Space.com report , so it seems we got very lucky.)

Read more from Live Science: How did life arise on Earth?

Another theory suggests that life first evolved on the nearby planet Mars, which could once have been habitable, then traveled to Earth on meteorites hurled from the Red Planet by impacts from other space rocks.

"It's lucky that we ended up here, nevertheless, as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life," biochemist Steven Benner, of the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in Florida, told Space.com . "If our hypothetical Martian ancestors had remained on Mars, there might not have been a story to tell."

Additional resources

• Read more about our planet in " A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters " (Custom House, 2021) by Andrew H. Knoll.
• Check out NASA 's page all about planet Earth.
• Consider a different perspective from Discover Magazine about what makes Earth unique: its minerals.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

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Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Charles Q. Choi is a contributing writer for Space.com and Live Science. He covers all things human origins and astronomy as well as physics, animals and general science topics. Charles has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Charles has visited every continent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea in Lhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos and even climbing an iceberg in Antarctica. Visit him at http://www.sciwriter.us

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Essay on Earth: Check Samples for 100, 300 Words

• Updated on  
• Sep 27, 2023

Essay on Earth: Earth, our cherished celestial abode, is a marvel of the cosmos. It teems with life, boasts breathtaking landscapes, and endures the test of time. In this blog, we embark on a journey to explore the myriad facets of our planet, from its geological mysteries to the pressing challenges of preserving its ecological harmony.

Table of Contents

• 1 Earth’s Geological History
• 2 Earth’s Climate
• 3 Preserving Earth’s Sustainability
• 4 Sample Essay On Earth In 100 Words
• 5 Sample Essay On Earth In 300 Words

Earth’s Geological History

Earth’s geological history spans eons, an epic tale told through rocks, fossils, and continents. It begins with the formation of our planet over 4.5 billion years ago, a violent birth amidst cosmic chaos. For billions of years, Earth underwent tumultuous transformations, from the fiery hell of its early years to the emergence of oceans and continents. 

Over time, life took root, evolving from simple organisms into the diverse array we know today. Plate tectonics, volcanic eruptions, and meteor impacts further shaped our world. Understanding Earth’s geological history not only unveils its past but also offers insights into its future and the importance of conservation.

Must Read: Essay On Waste Management

Earth’s Climate

Earth’s climate is a complex interplay of atmospheric and oceanic dynamics that determine its weather patterns and long-term conditions. It encompasses a delicate balance of temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric composition, shaping the environments where life thrives. However, this equilibrium is now disrupted by human-induced climate change.

Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, trapping heat and causing global temperatures to rise. This shift is causing extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and disrupting ecosystems worldwide. Addressing this climate crisis is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, requiring collective action to mitigate its impacts.

Preserving Earth’s Sustainability

Sustainability on Earth is the pivotal concept guiding our actions toward a harmonious coexistence with the planet. It revolves around responsible resource management, reducing waste, and respecting ecological limits. Sustainable practices encompass clean energy, conservation of biodiversity, and equitable access to resources, ensuring a resilient future.

Achieving sustainability is paramount in mitigating environmental crises, such as climate change and habitat loss. It demands global cooperation, conscious consumer choices, and innovative solutions. By embracing sustainability, we safeguard Earth’s precious ecosystems, secure resources for future generations, and preserve the beauty and diversity of our irreplaceable home.

Sample Essay On Earth In 100 Words

Earth, our celestial home, is a testament to the grandeur of the cosmos. For over 4.5 billion years, it has nurtured life, from the simplest organisms to the diverse tapestry we witness today. Earth’s geological history reveals eons of transformation, while its climate sustains ecosystems across continents. However, our planet faces unprecedented challenges. Human actions, from pollution to deforestation, imperil the delicate balance of nature. The climate crisis threatens ecosystems and communities. Yet, Earth’s resilience offers hope. Through conservation, sustainable practices, and global cooperation, we can safeguard this precious orb, ensuring its enduring beauty for generations to come.

Must Read: Essay On Save Water 

Sample Essay On Earth In 300 Words

Earth, our celestial abode, stands as a testament to the sublime beauty and intricate complexity of the cosmos. One of Earth’s most captivating aspects is its geological history, a narrative etched in the layers of rock, sediment, and fossils. From its tumultuous birth in a maelstrom of cosmic debris, our planet has evolved through epochs of geological transformation. Continents have shifted, mountain ranges have risen and eroded, and life has thrived and adapted. Exploring Earth’s geological history is like reading a captivating story, revealing the secrets of its past and the forces that have shaped its present landscapes.

Yet, Earth’s allure extends far beyond its geological marvels. Its climate, a symphony of atmospheric and oceanic interactions, creates diverse ecosystems that span the globe. From the lush rainforests of the Amazon to the stark beauty of polar ice caps, Earth’s climate has sculpted environments that support a dazzling array of life forms. The rhythm of seasons, the dance of wind and water, and the harmony of predator and prey are all part of this intricate tapestry.

However, as we celebrate Earth’s wonders, we must also confront the pressing challenges it faces today. Human activities, driven by industry and consumption, have led to environmental degradation on an unprecedented scale. Pollution chokes our air and water, while deforestation and habitat loss threaten countless species. Perhaps the most urgent challenge is the spectre of climate change, driven by the relentless emission of greenhouse gases. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and melting ice caps are stark reminders of the consequences.

Yet, in the face of these challenges, Earth displays its resilience. It offers hope that, through collective effort, we can restore the balance that sustains life. Conservation, sustainable practices, and international cooperation are the tools we possess to safeguard our cherished home. In conclusion, Earth is a treasure trove of geological wonders and ecological diversity.

Earth is called a “blue planet” because its surface is 70% water, giving it a predominantly blue appearance when seen from space.

Earth’s resources are depleting due to overexploitation, pollution, and unsustainable practices, threatening ecosystems, freshwater, minerals, and fossil fuels.

Write about Earth’s beauty, biodiversity, ecological balance, human impact, and the urgent need for conservation and sustainable practices.

We hope this blog gave you an idea about how to write and present an essay on Earth that puts forth your opinions. The skill of writing an essay comes in handy when appearing for standardized language tests. Thinking of taking one soon? Leverage Edu provides the best online test prep for the same via Leverage Live . Register today to know more!

Amisha Khushara

With a heart full of passion for writing, I pour my emotions into every piece I create. I strive to connect with readers on a personal level, infusing my work with authenticity and relatability. Writing isn't just a skill; it's my heartfelt expression to touch hearts and minds.

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Essay on Earth

500 words essay on earth.

The earth is the planet that we live on and it is the fifth-largest planet. It is positioned in third place from the Sun. This essay on earth will help you learn all about it in detail. Our earth is the only planet that can sustain humans and other living species. The vital substances such as air, water, and land make it possible.

All About Essay on Earth

The rocks make up the earth that has been around for billions of years. Similarly, water also makes up the earth. In fact, water covers 70% of the surface. It includes the oceans that you see, the rivers, the sea and more.

Thus, the remaining 30% is covered with land. The earth moves around the sun in an orbit and takes around 364 days plus 6 hours to complete one round around it. Thus, we refer to it as a year.

Just like revolution, the earth also rotates on its axis within 24 hours that we refer to as a solar day. When rotation is happening, some of the places on the planet face the sun while the others hide from it.

As a result, we get day and night. There are three layers on the earth which we know as the core, mantle and crust. The core is the centre of the earth that is usually very hot. Further, we have the crust that is the outer layer. Finally, between the core and crust, we have the mantle i.e. the middle part.

The layer that we live on is the outer one with the rocks. Earth is home to not just humans but millions of other plants and species. The water and air on the earth make it possible for life to sustain. As the earth is the only livable planet, we must protect it at all costs.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

There is No Planet B

The human impact on the planet earth is very dangerous. Through this essay on earth, we wish to make people aware of protecting the earth. There is no balance with nature as human activities are hampering the earth.

Needless to say, we are responsible for the climate crisis that is happening right now. Climate change is getting worse and we need to start getting serious about it. It has a direct impact on our food, air, education, water, and more.

The rising temperature and natural disasters are clear warning signs. Therefore, we need to come together to save the earth and leave a better planet for our future generations.

Being ignorant is not an option anymore. We must spread awareness about the crisis and take preventive measures to protect the earth. We must all plant more trees and avoid using non-biodegradable products.

Further, it is vital to choose sustainable options and use reusable alternatives. We must save the earth to save our future. There is no Planet B and we must start acting like it accordingly.

Conclusion of Essay on Earth

All in all, we must work together to plant more trees and avoid using plastic. It is also important to limit the use of non-renewable resources to give our future generations a better planet.

FAQ on Essay on Earth

Question 1: What is the earth for kids?

Answer 1: Earth is the third farthest planet from the sun. It is bright and bluish in appearance when we see it from outer space. Water covers 70% of the earth while land covers 30%. Moreover, the earth is the only planet that can sustain life.

Question 2: How can we protect the earth?

Answer 2: We can protect the earth by limiting the use of non-renewable resources. Further, we must not waste water and avoid using plastic.

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Essays About Earth: 7 Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

There are many things you need to know about our planet, so if you’re making essays about Earth, you can read these sample essays and topic ideas.

The planet Earth is where we, humans, and other living creatures live. It also provides us with all the necessities we need – air to breathe, water to drink, and soil to grow fruits and vegetables. Without its natural resources, life would be impossible for all of us. 

Writing an essay about Earth can help give knowledge and spread awareness about climate change or look at the beauty of our planet. If you are writing an essay about the Earth, here are some essay examples and topic ideas to help you get started.

Tip: If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide to using an AI grammar checker .

1. Short Essay On The Structure Of Planet Earth By Shyam Soni

2. interest and concern about the fate of the earth by john olson, 3. our planet in danger by derrick wells, 4. a planet without trees: a nightmare or our future by shannon cain, 5. the possibility of an asteroid falling to earth by lewis rios, 6. save earth before colonizing mars by luz estrada, 7. my earth, my responsibility by poonam ghimire, topic idea essays about earth, 1. are there more planets like earth, 2. how has the earth’s surface changed over the years, 3. causes and effects of global warming, 4. does planting trees and reforestation help limit global warming, 5. how does population growth affect earth’s climate change, 6.  human impacts on the planet earth, 7. how did the planet earth form.

“Direct observation of the interior of the Earth is not possible as the interior becomes hotter with depth which is convincingly indicated by the volcanic eruptions. Apart from the seismological studies, other important sources of data, even though indirect, logically prove that the Earth’s body comprises several layers, which are like shells resting one above the other. These layers are distinguished by their physical and chemical properties, particularly, their thickness, depth, density, temperature, metallic content, and rocks.”

Author Shyam Soni discusses some essential facts about the structure of the planet Earth. This essay focuses on its layered structure and the differences in the density and temperature at different depths.

“I have found myself increasingly interested and concerned with the fate of the Earth and the way humankind views sustainability. In my perspective, many humans believe that Earth’s materials and resources are infinite, they will always be there to feed and maintain human life. The Earth will endlessly support and provide for the needs of the humans that inhabit it. Yet, that is just simply not true, as the human population grows we use more and more of the natural resources Earth provides.”

Author John Olson shares his point of view about the Earth’s “infinite” resources and its sustainability. However, Olson tells us that it may not be as unlimited as we think because of the rapid growth of the human population.

“Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century that started in England, the people during those times were already writing down the blueprint for a problem that the succeeding generations will have to face – the increasing problem of Carbon Dioxide emissions in our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is released in tons, millions of tons every day in every country – released from various factories and cars most especially. This buildup of toxic gases such as the carbon dioxide heats up our planet thereby increasing the possibility, and the danger of global warming – this is what we call the greenhouse effect.”

Author Derrick Wells talks about one of the environmental problems we are facing today – the Greenhouse Effect and the actions that we could take to save our planet Earth from the danger it can pose.

“Can we imagine a world without trees? What a world without trees would look like? Could such a world even exist? Let us close our eyes, and try to imagine a desolate Earth. Imagine no more paper, and everyone would have to resort to some other source or maybe technology could help, but that is, if anyone was left at that time. Trees are an important factor to our existence not only because they produce paper, lumber, or chewing gum, but due to the fact that they serve an important role in the carbon cycle, they are the key to our very existence! Due to the ever increasing population, that seemingly distant future is getting near each passing day.”

Author Shannon Cain shares his thought about a planet without trees, telling us what it would be like and what we can do to prevent it from happening to our home planet – the Earth. 

“Jonathan Haidt gave a speech about the possibility of an asteroid falling on Earth and asked the audience what people could do to stop them. Haidt notes that if an asteroid threatens to destroy the Earth, people will forget about their differences and stand together to fight for their survival. This is what he refers a common ground in the midst of a crisis. Haidt’s video shows us the many problems that people are facing, but yet people cannot find a common ground to fight them while the issues are threatening all of us.”

Author Lewis Rios talks about the possibility of an asteroid falling on Earth and then relates it to some common problems we are facing right now. Such as poverty, which tells us that we should all cooperate and work together to find a solution to these threats to survive. 

“Has humanity irreversibly defaced Earth from being a sustainable planet for further centuries? Many would believe that humanity has come to a point of constant destruction of Earth with no hope for change. This thought process has come forth with the resolution of starting a new sustainable planet on Mars. However, it is tremendously more challenging to restart than to fix damage and change simplistic daily routines.” 

Author Luz Estrada shares her opinion about the plan of starting a new sustainable planet on Mars. Estrada shares with the readers that it is much easier to save and fix Earth – as it is now – rather than thinking of starting a new life on a different planet, which is impossible for most people.

“Earth is a beautiful living planet in the Universe and the common habitat of more than 7 billion human population and millions of species of biodiversity. Our Earth provides us with food, shelter, and most of our requirements. Despite unavoidable free services provided by the earth to humans, we are not able to pay off her kindness to us. Rather we humans are being cruel to our Earth with our selfish activities.”

Author Poonam Ghimire talks about the selfish acts that cause Earth’s slow destruction. Ghimire encourages the readers to be responsible enough to protect and preserve our planet for the next generations.

Earth, our home, is the only planet known to support life, although there are current missions determining Mars’ past and future potential for life. While scientists continue to look for signs of life elsewhere in the universe, Earth remains the only place where we’ve ever identified living creatures. If you are writing an essay about the Earth, you can use this topic idea to discuss some Earth-like planets discovered so far.

The planet Earth has not always looked the same way it looks today; the United States, a billion years ago, was in a completely different location compared to where it is today! So, how does this happen? Why does this happen? In your essay about the Earth, you can use this topic idea to give the readers some understanding of how our planet has changed over time – like the things that took place and are still taking place.

Recent global warming is mainly because of human actions, which involve releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. An increase in greenhouse gases leads to a more significant greenhouse effect, which results in increased global warming. Global warming is also being felt everywhere – drought, heatwaves, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and storms. If you are writing an essay about the Earth, you can discuss this topic in more detail to spread awareness to your readers out there.

Planting more trees is one of the most effective ways to lessen atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and stop global warming. As the forests grow, they remove the carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis, which works as a natural reservoir to store carbon. Reforestation, one of the planned projects worldwide, is thought to help protect the environment for the next generations. You can use this topic idea for your essay about the Earth to encourage your readers to plant more trees to reduce the harmful effects of deforestation and save our home planet, Earth, from getting slowly destroyed.

Since humans require fossil fuels to power their increasingly mechanized lifestyles, human population growth is undoubtedly a significant contributor to global warming. More people mean more demand for oil, gas, coal, and other underground fuels that, when burned, release enough carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere to trap warm air inside like a greenhouse. So, in your essay about the Earth, let your readers know to what extent human population growth affects climate change and what can be done about it. 

Humans affect the planet Earth in many ways – overpopulation, pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. These things have caused global warming, soil erosion, poor air quality, and non-potable water. In your essay about the Earth, you can detail these negative impacts and how they can affect us, humans. 

The planet Earth’s formation remains a bizarre, scientific mystery. This is because we live on a planet in a solar system with seven other planets, and thousands of exoplanets have been discovered so far. However, the formation of planets like Earth is still a hotly debated topic. So, currently, there are only 2 leading theories about planetary formation – in your essay about the earth, look into this topic in more detail to share some exciting facts about the Earth with your readers. 

If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our guide on how to write a diverse essay.

If you’re still stuck, check out our general resource of essay writing topics .

Bryan Collins is the owner of Become a Writer Today. He's an author from Ireland who helps writers build authority and earn a living from their creative work. He's also a former Forbes columnist and his work has appeared in publications like Lifehacker and Fast Company.

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Earth May Be Unique In The Universe

What does that mean for the search for alien life?

By Sarah Fecht | Published Feb 23, 2016 1:32 AM EST

Of the 2,000 or so planets that have been discovered in other solar systems, only a few are similar in size to Earth. For years, scientists have assumed that more rocky, Earth-like planets are out there, and that we just haven’t spotted them yet because they’re small. But a new paper, posted to the arXiv and submitted to The Astrophysical Journal raises the question, What if there aren’t other “Earths” out there?

After completing a census of the cosmos, a research team based in Sweden thinks that Earth may be more special than we thought. Scientific American ‘s Shannon Hall explains :

What they concluded was that Earth may be unique, among the universe’s estimated 700 million trillion rocky planets. The other rocky planets’ older ages and locations in foreign galaxies may make our planet one-of-a-kind. But there are a lot of uncertainties, as the researchers themselves admit.

For one, we may not have an accurate view of how common terrestrial planets are. Out of the estimated 100 billion planets in the Milky Way, we’ve only seen 1000 of them–just a tiny, infinitesimal sample of the total. Plus, smaller, Earth-sized planets are harder to detect, so who knows how many we’re missing. And we’ve only really zoomed in on the planets in one small piece of the sky, within just one galaxy. It’s like trying to guess the composition of a big, complex jigsaw puzzle when you only have one or two pieces in your hand.

So it still seems quite early to make generalizations about how common Earth-like planets may be. But if these researchers are correct, what does that mean for the search for extraterrestrial life?

If we assume that organisms on other worlds require the same basic things that life on Earth does–food, water, sunlight, a solid planet to live on, etc.–then there may be fewer places in the universe where life could potentially evolve. And since intelligent life evolves even less often, the universe may indeed be a very lonely place.

But perhaps life could even evolve in environments that are completely different from Earth –such as on Saturn’s moon Titan, where rivers and lakes are filled with hydrocarbons instead of water. Our neighbors in the universe may exist after all… but in a form unlike anything we have imagined.

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Earth as Compared With the Other Planets Essay

The earth is the fifth largest planet and is placed third from the sun. The earth is the only planet that scientists are able to study in detail. This is because its atmospheric conditions can be monitored minute by minute. In addition, the earth is the only planet that supports life and has water. The planet earth is divided into three layers; at the top is the crust; the mantle comes in the medial position and finally the core. This discussion will be based on the comparison of the earth’s properties with the other planets.

The earth has properties that have been identified through many studies which have been done. One of its distinct properties is that it is divided into three layers according to their distinctive seismic and chemical properties. On the surface about forty kilometers in depth we have the crust. It is followed by the upper mantle between 40 and four 400 kilometers. The transition region follows between 400 and 650 kilometers. Then the lower mantle follows between 650 and 2700 kilometers. The D’’ Layer is found between 2700 and 2890 kilometers and lastly is the inner core which is subdivided into the outer and inner core found between 2890 and 5150 and 5150 and 6378 kilometers respectively. The thickness of the crust varies. It has been found to be thicker beneath the continents and thinner below oceans. The crust is divided into two layers. There is the inner and the outer layers which are solid. The mantle layer is semi fluid. The layers of the earth are separated by discontinuities for example we have the Mohorovicic discontinuity that separates the upper mantle and the earth crust. On the other hand the mantle consists most of the earth’s mass (Bill, 2006).

The different earth layers consist of various chemical compositions. The chemical compositions of the earth’s core are nickel and iron; nonetheless they are not the only elements present. The lower mantle is made up of elements like of magnesium, oxygen, iron, and others. On the other hand the upper mantle consists of elements such as olivine, calcium and pyroxene. The earth’s crust has elements like silicates and quartz. “The earth’s chemical composition is 0.05 % Titanium, 1.9% sulfur, 2.4% nickel, 12.7% magnesium, 15.2% silicon, 29.5% oxygen and 34.6% iron” (Bill, 2006). To carry out the studies on the chemical compositions of the earth’s interior the scientists rely on lava samples collected on the surface of the earth because some parts of the earth are not accessible.

The earth contains several materials made up of the different elements. Some of these materials are: chemical elements for example gold, mercury, diamond; compounds such as salt, water, ammonia; mixtures like milk, sand; minerals like rocks, silicate; gemstones such as rubies, turquoise, beryl; synthetic substances like plastics, drugs and inorganic properties like starch, natural gas and so on (The Planet Earth n.d).

The study of the earth is made possible by various disciplines. The geological sciences are used to study the structure, minerals compositions as well as chemicals. Hydrological sciences help in the study of how water behaves thus things like erosion can be explained. Atmospheric sciences are applied in climatology, atmosphere planetary and meteorology. Trigonometry and geometry sciences have been used to give information about the locations as well as the size. Therefore using these disciplines there is precise information about the planet earth as well as the other planets.

There are factors that form the shape of the earth and modify it. The first one is its large surface area that has made the earth to cool more slowly. In fact studies show that the earth is cooling still (Earth Properties, 2009). Energy is transmitted from materials with high temperatures to ones that are cool; thus the hot materials in the earth’s core are pushed to towards the crust. On the contrary materials on the crust that are cold such as rocks are forced inside by the convection currents. Secondly we have forces that work on the plate tectonics due to the heat at the earth’s surface which pushes the plate tectonics. The earth has plate tectonics that are huge segments separated by faults and are capable of colliding. When they collide they cause potent tectonic forces that lead to the squeezing and folding of the solid rock. This leads to changes on the earth’s crust through the formation of mountains, valleys and so on. (Earth Properties, 2009).

Erosion is another factor that shapes the earth’s structure. It is brought about by factors like the wind, water from lakes, rivers, oceans as well as ice. These factors lead to modification of the forms found on the earth’s structure due to the rapid erosion process. Water may lead to erosion by washing away the top soil and thus creating gullies. Thus through erosion the shape of the earth is changed when some elements are washed away. (Earth Properties, 2009).

In addition volcanic activities are responsible for shaping the earth. The volcanic activities take place under special conditions thus they are not found everywhere. Volcanism occurs in four key settings. One, along divergent plate boundaries, second, areas with continental extension, third, along converging tectonics and in areas located in the interior of the earth’s plate called hot spots (Nelson, 2008). Through volcanic activities features like craters are formed when hot magma is forced out to the surface. The vent used by the magma may become a crater at the top. Some of the craters may retain water thus becoming lakes. All these features change the earth’s surface.

The earth is just one planet among seven others. It is the densest body and may have some similarities with the other planets. It is also one of the most important planets due to its ability to support all the living organisms. Its is also a unique planet because it is the only one that has liquid water except for some satellites in Jupiter that are said to have water and some scientists believe some form of bacteria exist. The earth can be used as a central point in comparing the rest of the planets in the solar system which has seven other planets; namely, Mercury, Venus, mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The planet mercury is the closets to the sun. It has a larger core compared to the earth. It has a very eccentric orbit thus giving strange effects to observers on its surface. The observers saw at some point the sun stop as it moved towards the zenith. At the same time the stars would be moving at a very fast pace on the sky. The temperatures in mercury are very hot and this makes this planet the most extreme in temperature variations. The temperatures are very high and vary from between 90K and 700K. Due to these high temperatures no living things are found here unlike in the earth (Bill, 2006).

Venus is the other planet positioned second from the sun. This planet is very bright like the moon and the earth thus different from the earth in this sense. Its rotation is very slow that is about 245 days on earth to one Venus day and therefore it does not have a magnetic field. This planet is often called the Earth’s sister due to its similarities with the earth. To begin with their sizes are almost similar though Venus is slightly smaller. Both planets contain very few craters in addition they have similar chemical compositions as well as densities. Venus’ temperature is very hot and ironically its surface is hotter than mercury’s yet it is further from the sun. Therefore its surface is very dry as its water boiled away due to its high temperatures. In addition it does not have any satellites (Bill, 2006).

Mars planet has a red color and its surface is very cold. It is smaller than the earth but the surface are is just about the size of Earth’s. Both planets are similar in that they have an atmosphere; however the mars’ atmosphere contains typically of carbon dioxide though there is some oxygen just like in the earth. The two planets are similar in that the length of their day is almost equal. The earth has 24 hours while mars has 24 ½ hours. It has two satellites and its orbit is elliptical. Its unique characteristic is its terrain which is spectacular. This planet is said to have supported life though no prove has been found yet.

Jupiter is the largest planet is it is about 318 times the mass of the earth. It has a huge magnetic field which is stronger compared to the earth. Jupiter has a ring like Saturn but it is smaller in size and fainter. It has sixty three satellites. On the other hand Saturn is the second largest planet after Jupiter. It has rings around it and they are very bright. The rings are unstable and thus are regenerated by the processes ongoing like the break up of satellites. Just like the earth Saturn has a magnetic field. It has thirty four satellites. Saturn has the least density in all the planets (Bill, 2006).

Uranus is seventh from the sun and by diameter the third largest. Just like the earth Uranus contains rocks and ice. Its core is not rocky and hence the material at the core is less evenly distributed. Its magnetic field is peculiar because it is not found at the center like in other planets. Its rings are darker than Jupiter’s. Lastly there is Neptune. It comes in the eighth position from the sun. It has a rich blue tint in color which is as a result of the absorption of the red light by methane. The winds found in this planet are the fastest of all winds in the entire solar system. It radiates its own heat from its internal heat source. It has thirteen satellites (Bill, 2006).

The earth remains the only planet that supports life due to its favorable conditions that support life. However there is a reason to be alarmed with the level of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere thus leading to the rising of global temperatures. This has led to erratic rain patterns in most parts of the world and this has created shortages in food production, water to produce hydroelectric power and so on. Action needs to be taken now to protect our planet and avoid the rising of the temperatures least we find in uninhabitable conditions.

Reference List

• Bill, A. (2006), Earth . Web.
• Nelson, A.S. (2008). Volcanic Landforms, Volcanoes and plate Tectonics . Web.
• The Planet Earth .
• Properties of Earth and the Moon n.d.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2021, November 11). Earth as Compared With the Other Planets. https://ivypanda.com/essays/earth-as-compared-with-the-other-planets/

"Earth as Compared With the Other Planets." IvyPanda , 11 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/earth-as-compared-with-the-other-planets/.

IvyPanda . (2021) 'Earth as Compared With the Other Planets'. 11 November.

IvyPanda . 2021. "Earth as Compared With the Other Planets." November 11, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/earth-as-compared-with-the-other-planets/.

1. IvyPanda . "Earth as Compared With the Other Planets." November 11, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/earth-as-compared-with-the-other-planets/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Earth as Compared With the Other Planets." November 11, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/earth-as-compared-with-the-other-planets/.

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• Solar Eclipse 2024

What the World Has Learned From Past Eclipses

C louds scudded over the small volcanic island of Principe, off the western coast of Africa, on the afternoon of May 29, 1919. Arthur Eddington, director of the Cambridge Observatory in the U.K., waited for the Sun to emerge. The remains of a morning thunderstorm could ruin everything.

The island was about to experience the rare and overwhelming sight of a total solar eclipse. For six minutes, the longest eclipse since 1416, the Moon would completely block the face of the Sun, pulling a curtain of darkness over a thin stripe of Earth. Eddington traveled into the eclipse path to try and prove one of the most consequential ideas of his age: Albert Einstein’s new theory of general relativity.

Eddington, a physicist, was one of the few people at the time who understood the theory, which Einstein proposed in 1915. But many other scientists were stymied by the bizarre idea that gravity is not a mutual attraction, but a warping of spacetime. Light itself would be subject to this warping, too. So an eclipse would be the best way to prove whether the theory was true, because with the Sun’s light blocked by the Moon, astronomers would be able to see whether the Sun’s gravity bent the light of distant stars behind it.

Two teams of astronomers boarded ships steaming from Liverpool, England, in March 1919 to watch the eclipse and take the measure of the stars. Eddington and his team went to Principe, and another team led by Frank Dyson of the Greenwich Observatory went to Sobral, Brazil.

Totality, the complete obscuration of the Sun, would be at 2:13 local time in Principe. Moments before the Moon slid in front of the Sun, the clouds finally began breaking up. For a moment, it was totally clear. Eddington and his group hastily captured images of a star cluster found near the Sun that day, called the Hyades, found in the constellation of Taurus. The astronomers were using the best astronomical technology of the time, photographic plates, which are large exposures taken on glass instead of film. Stars appeared on seven of the plates, and solar “prominences,” filaments of gas streaming from the Sun, appeared on others.

Eddington wanted to stay in Principe to measure the Hyades when there was no eclipse, but a ship workers’ strike made him leave early. Later, Eddington and Dyson both compared the glass plates taken during the eclipse to other glass plates captured of the Hyades in a different part of the sky, when there was no eclipse. On the images from Eddington’s and Dyson’s expeditions, the stars were not aligned. The 40-year-old Einstein was right.

“Lights All Askew In the Heavens,” the New York Times proclaimed when the scientific papers were published. The eclipse was the key to the discovery—as so many solar eclipses before and since have illuminated new findings about our universe.

To understand why Eddington and Dyson traveled such distances to watch the eclipse, we need to talk about gravity.

Since at least the days of Isaac Newton, who wrote in 1687, scientists thought gravity was a simple force of mutual attraction. Newton proposed that every object in the universe attracts every other object in the universe, and that the strength of this attraction is related to the size of the objects and the distances among them. This is mostly true, actually, but it’s a little more nuanced than that.

On much larger scales, like among black holes or galaxy clusters, Newtonian gravity falls short. It also can’t accurately account for the movement of large objects that are close together, such as how the orbit of Mercury is affected by its proximity the Sun.

Albert Einstein’s most consequential breakthrough solved these problems. General relativity holds that gravity is not really an invisible force of mutual attraction, but a distortion. Rather than some kind of mutual tug-of-war, large objects like the Sun and other stars respond relative to each other because the space they are in has been altered. Their mass is so great that they bend the fabric of space and time around themselves.

Read More: 10 Surprising Facts About the 2024 Solar Eclipse

This was a weird concept, and many scientists thought Einstein’s ideas and equations were ridiculous. But others thought it sounded reasonable. Einstein and others knew that if the theory was correct, and the fabric of reality is bending around large objects, then light itself would have to follow that bend. The light of a star in the great distance, for instance, would seem to curve around a large object in front of it, nearer to us—like our Sun. But normally, it’s impossible to study stars behind the Sun to measure this effect. Enter an eclipse.

Einstein’s theory gives an equation for how much the Sun’s gravity would displace the images of background stars. Newton’s theory predicts only half that amount of displacement.

Eddington and Dyson measured the Hyades cluster because it contains many stars; the more stars to distort, the better the comparison. Both teams of scientists encountered strange political and natural obstacles in making the discovery, which are chronicled beautifully in the book No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity , by the physicist Daniel Kennefick. But the confirmation of Einstein’s ideas was worth it. Eddington said as much in a letter to his mother: “The one good plate that I measured gave a result agreeing with Einstein,” he wrote , “and I think I have got a little confirmation from a second plate.”

The Eddington-Dyson experiments were hardly the first time scientists used eclipses to make profound new discoveries. The idea dates to the beginnings of human civilization.

Careful records of lunar and solar eclipses are one of the greatest legacies of ancient Babylon. Astronomers—or astrologers, really, but the goal was the same—were able to predict both lunar and solar eclipses with impressive accuracy. They worked out what we now call the Saros Cycle, a repeating period of 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours in which eclipses appear to repeat. One Saros cycle is equal to 223 synodic months, which is the time it takes the Moon to return to the same phase as seen from Earth. They also figured out, though may not have understood it completely, the geometry that enables eclipses to happen.

The path we trace around the Sun is called the ecliptic. Our planet’s axis is tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane, which is why we have seasons, and why the other celestial bodies seem to cross the same general path in our sky.

As the Moon goes around Earth, it, too, crosses the plane of the ecliptic twice in a year. The ascending node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic. The descending node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic. When the Moon crosses a node, a total solar eclipse can happen. Ancient astronomers were aware of these points in the sky, and by the apex of Babylonian civilization, they were very good at predicting when eclipses would occur.

Two and a half millennia later, in 2016, astronomers used these same ancient records to measure the change in the rate at which Earth’s rotation is slowing—which is to say, the amount by which are days are lengthening, over thousands of years.

By the middle of the 19 th century, scientific discoveries came at a frenetic pace, and eclipses powered many of them. In October 1868, two astronomers, Pierre Jules César Janssen and Joseph Norman Lockyer, separately measured the colors of sunlight during a total eclipse. Each found evidence of an unknown element, indicating a new discovery: Helium, named for the Greek god of the Sun. In another eclipse in 1869, astronomers found convincing evidence of another new element, which they nicknamed coronium—before learning a few decades later that it was not a new element, but highly ionized iron, indicating that the Sun’s atmosphere is exceptionally, bizarrely hot. This oddity led to the prediction, in the 1950s, of a continual outflow that we now call the solar wind.

And during solar eclipses between 1878 and 1908, astronomers searched in vain for a proposed extra planet within the orbit of Mercury. Provisionally named Vulcan, this planet was thought to exist because Newtonian gravity could not fully describe Mercury’s strange orbit. The matter of the innermost planet’s path was settled, finally, in 1915, when Einstein used general relativity equations to explain it.

Many eclipse expeditions were intended to learn something new, or to prove an idea right—or wrong. But many of these discoveries have major practical effects on us. Understanding the Sun, and why its atmosphere gets so hot, can help us predict solar outbursts that could disrupt the power grid and communications satellites. Understanding gravity, at all scales, allows us to know and to navigate the cosmos.

GPS satellites, for instance, provide accurate measurements down to inches on Earth. Relativity equations account for the effects of the Earth’s gravity and the distances between the satellites and their receivers on the ground. Special relativity holds that the clocks on satellites, which experience weaker gravity, seem to run slower than clocks under the stronger force of gravity on Earth. From the point of view of the satellite, Earth clocks seem to run faster. We can use different satellites in different positions, and different ground stations, to accurately triangulate our positions on Earth down to inches. Without those calculations, GPS satellites would be far less precise.

This year, scientists fanned out across North America and in the skies above it will continue the legacy of eclipse science. Scientists from NASA and several universities and other research institutions will study Earth’s atmosphere; the Sun’s atmosphere; the Sun’s magnetic fields; and the Sun’s atmospheric outbursts, called coronal mass ejections.

When you look up at the Sun and Moon on the eclipse , the Moon’s day — or just observe its shadow darkening the ground beneath the clouds, which seems more likely — think about all the discoveries still yet waiting to happen, just behind the shadow of the Moon.

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The Most Dazzling Eclipse in the Universe

Anyone who watches the moon glide over the sun on April 8 will be witnessing the planetary version of a lightning strike.

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Eclipses are not particularly rare in the universe. One occurs every time a planet, its orbiting moon, and its sun line up. Nearly every planet has a sun, and astronomers have reason to believe that many of them have moons, so shadows are bound to be cast on one world or another as the years pass.

But solar eclipses like the one that millions of Americans will watch on April 8—in which a blood-red ring and shimmering corona emerge to surround a blackened sun—are a cosmic fluke. They’re an unlikely confluence of time, space, and planetary dynamics, the result of chance events that happened billions of years ago. And, as far as we know, Earth’s magnificent eclipses are unique in their frequency, an extraordinary case of habitual stellar spectacle. On April 8, anyone who watches in wonder as the moon silently glides over the sun will be witnessing the planetary version of a lightning strike.

Seen from a planet, a solar eclipse can vary in nearly infinite ways. Everything depends on the apparent size of the star and the planet’s orbiting body. Some eclipses, known as annular eclipses or transits, appear as nothing more than a small black dot crossing the solar disk. They occur when a moon looks much smaller than the sun in the sky, whether that’s because it is especially small or especially distant (or the star is especially large or close). Mars, for example, has two wee, potato-shaped moons, each too small to block out the sun.

Read: What would the solar eclipse look like from the moon?

By contrast, if a moon appears much bigger in the sky than the sun, an eclipse would see the tiny solar disk entirely blotted out by the far larger moon, as is the case with many of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s biggest moons. Such an eclipse would mean a shocking change from light to darkness for sure, but hardly the celestial drama that’s seen on Earth. The eerily perfect replacement of our sun’s disk by an equal-size black orb, followed by the startling appearance of previously invisible and dramatic regions of illumination surrounding it—that kind of eclipse demands very particular conditions.

Our sun, like all stars, is a giant ball of superheated plasma. Close to its surface, giant fiery flares called prominences blast upward; beyond them extends the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere, which can measure in the millions of degrees on any temperature scale. Normally, we can’t see either of these details because the sun itself is simply too bright. But during a total solar eclipse, we can: The prominences form an irregular ring of deep red just surrounding the sun, with the corona shimmering beyond them. That’s because our moon appears to be almost exactly the same size as the sun from our vantage point on Earth’s surface—big enough to block most of its light, but not so big that it blots out the sun’s outer layers.

Relative to the diameter of the Earth, our moon is unusually big for a satellite, at least in our solar system. If you were an alien astronomer visiting our corner of space, you’d probably think the Earth-moon system was two planets orbiting each other. And yet, rotund as it may be, our moon is still 400 times smaller in diameter than the sun—but it also just so happens to be roughly 400 times closer to Earth. And even that coincidence of space and size is, in truth, an accident of time. Today, the moon orbits about 240,000 miles from Earth. But 4.5 billion years ago, when it was first born from an apocalyptic collision between Earth and a Mars-size planet, it was only 14,000 or so miles away , and therefore would have looked about 17 times bigger in the sky than it does today. Since then, the moon has been slowly drifting away from Earth; currently, it’s moving at about 1.5 inches a year. As the size of its orbit increased, its apparent size in Earth’s sky decreased. That means the eclipses we see today were likely not possible until about 1 billion years ago, and will no longer be possible 1 billion years from now. Humanity has the luck of living in the brief cosmic window of stunning eclipses.

Read: The moon is leaving us

Not every eclipse that’s visible from Earth offers perfect views of the prominences and corona while also throwing the world into temporary night. The slightly noncircular shape of the moon’s orbit means that it grows and shrinks in the sky. But near-perfect total eclipses account for about 27 percent of all sun-moon overlaps on Earth—often enough that they can be spotted by someone in any given region every generation or so. In contrast, eclipses on the other planets in our solar system are almost always either too small to cover the sun or so large that the ring of fire and corona are hidden. Perfect total eclipses are rare jewels for our neighbors, but common for us.

That special frequency has allowed eclipses to leave deep imprints in human myth and history. Total eclipses on Earth can last as little as a few seconds and as long as seven minutes, but for our ancestors, these brief moments were still descents into terror. “A great fear taketh them” reads an Aztec description of the public reaction to an eclipse. “The women weep aloud. And the men cry out … eternal darkness will fall, and the demons will come down.” One legend holds that, thousands of years ago, a Chinese emperor ordered the execution of two court astronomers who failed to predict an eclipse.

Eclipses were dramatic enough that they helped push our forebears, such as the residents of Babylon and China in the millennia before the Common Era, to pay close attention to the sky. They drove kings and emperors to provide the resources that priests needed to make and keep long-term astronomical records. They helped spark the invention of methods for tracking the motion of celestial objects over lifetimes, and in this way the clockwork of the heavens was first revealed. In that long process of observation and recordkeeping, something else happened too: Eclipses helped compel humans to both develop and reveal our inmost capacity for a new and precise kind of reasoning that could be applied to the world.

Read: Civilization owes its existence to the moon

I believe that the cosmic accident of Earth’s perfect eclipses—with their high drama and hidden patterns, the panic they ignited in market squares, the danger they posed to those in power, the awe they inspired among the early priest-astronomers—may have served as a force driving humans to nothing less than science itself. And in building science, we gained the capacity to reshape the planet and ourselves. All of it might never have happened without the moon and sun appearing to be almost the same size from Earth. The lucky circumstances of our sky may well have been the gift that allowed us, eventually, to become its intimate.

Astronomy Atmospheric Ballet: Layers of Earth’s Ethereal Symphony

An essay exploring the captivating realm of Earth’s atmosphere layers, a dynamic symphony of gases and energies shaping our planet’s essence. From the outermost exosphere, where Earth’s grasp merges with the cosmic expanse, to the vibrant troposphere, where weather orchestrates its dance, each layer tells a tale of unique characteristics and interconnected systems. Unveil the mysteries of the thermosphere’s auroras, the mesosphere’s meteoric drama, and the stratosphere’s protective ozone shield. Delve into the atmospheric canvas, where the layers seamlessly blend, creating a living masterpiece that influences climate, weather, and the delicate balance sustaining life on Earth. This essay invites exploration into the intricate layers that envelop our world, inspiring a deeper appreciation for the atmospheric ballet that defines our planet’s identity. Moreover, at PapersOwl, there are additional free essay samples connected to Astronomy.

How it works

Far above the Earth’s surface, an enchanting ballet unfolds — the ethereal dance of atmospheric layers, a symphony of gases and energies shaping our planet’s identity. At the outermost edge lies the exosphere, where gravity’s grip falters, ushering in a celestial expanse where Earth and outer space blend into a cosmic dreamscape.

Descending through the thermosphere, temperatures soar under the caress of solar radiance. Yet, paradoxically, the thermosphere would feel eerily cold due to its sparse composition. Here, a celestial spectacle graces the polar heavens — the auroras, where charged particles engage in a luminous waltz, painting the night sky with hues that defy earthly imagination.

Into the mesosphere we plunge, where temperatures plummet once more. In this frigid layer, meteors meet their fiery demise, igniting the night with streaks of celestial brilliance. The mesosphere stands as a cosmic guardian, shielding the Earth from the fiery kisses of extraterrestrial wanderers.

Embarking on a descent, we encounter the stratosphere, home to the ozone layer — Earth’s shield against the sun’s ultraviolet embrace. Serenity pervades this realm as commercial airliners gracefully navigate above the weather’s turbulent theatrics. Here, a calmness prevails, a respite before the atmospheric symphony crescendos into the dynamic layer below.

The troposphere, our terrestrial abode, is where the atmosphere springs to life. A theater of weather unfolds — clouds pirouette, storms choreograph their majestic performances, and life breathes in harmony with Earth’s exhalations. As we descend into this layer, temperatures dip and rise, orchestrating a perpetual dance of thermal dynamics.

Picture the atmosphere as a living canvas, each layer a stroke of nature’s brush, blending seamlessly into the next. These transitions are not abrupt; they are the subtle nuances of Earth’s atmospheric masterpiece. From the edge of the exosphere to the bustling activity of the troposphere, the atmosphere is a kaleidoscope of complexity and beauty, a living entity that embraces our planet in layers of life-sustaining embrace.

This atmospheric tapestry is more than a scientific abstraction; it is a key to unraveling the intricacies of climate, weather, and the delicate balance that cradles life on Earth. The layers, with their unique characteristics, invite us to explore the interconnected dance of gases and energies that envelop our world. As stewards of this layered masterpiece, we are entrusted with the responsibility to appreciate, protect, and marvel at the atmospheric symphony that breathes life into our extraordinary planet.

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15 stunning places on Earth that look like they're from another planet

Posted: June 6, 2023 | Last updated: August 6, 2023

Earth is full of weird and wonderful places. Here are some of the most alien landscapes our planet has to offer.

For years, humans have fantasized about voyaging to distant worlds. Luckily for most of us, Earth offers some truly awe-inspiring places to visit that will make you feel like you've just set foot on another planet. You don't need a spacecraft and millions of dollars to have an otherworldly experience, just your passport and a plane ticket. 

From glaciers to deserts, volcanoes to caves, discover some of the most surreal places Earth has to offer.

By Daisy Dobrijevic

1. GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

The Grand Prismatic Spring is the most photographed thermal feature in Yellowstone National Park, according to adventure publisher Outside.

According to the U.S. National Park Service, the ring of vivid colors measures 200 to 300 feet (60 to 90 meters) in diameter and 121 feet (36 m) deep — it's no wonder this striking spring is so popular with photographers and tourists alike. 

The superheated spring is also a sought-after location for microscopic organisms known as thermophiles, which thrive in hot environments. ("Thermo" means heat, and "phile" means lover.) The hardiest of the thermophiles that live in the hottest water are colorless or yellow, whereas the orange, brown and green thermophiles live in the not-so-hot waters around the edge of the spring.

2. WADI RUM, JORDAN

Wadi Rum is a desert covering 277 square miles (717 square kilometers) located in South Jordan, according to the travel website WadiRum.jo. While exploring the dramatic wilderness, you'd be forgiven for thinking you've just set foot on Mars. With wide sandy valleys over a mile (1700 meters) high, smooth red dunes and mesmerizing rock formations, Wadi Rum is a wondrous place. 

British liaison officer Thomas Edward Lawrence served with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century. He described Wadi Rum as "vast, echoing, and God-like", according to the travel website Wadi Rum Nomads. 

Lawrence wrote a book about the period called the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," which was later made into the famous 1962 movie "Lawrence of Arabia." Several scenes from the movie were filmed in Wadi Rum, according to IMDB.

3. VATNAJOKULL GLACIER, ICELAND

Vatnajokull glacier is the second-largest glacier in Europe. It covers 3,130 square miles (8,100 square kilometers) — 8% of Iceland's landmass — according to the travel website Guide to Iceland. 

The monumental glacier is over 3,000 feet (900 m) deep in some places and conceals several active volcanoes below its surface, the most famous being Grímsvötn, Öræfajökull and Bárðarbunga. Geologists believe volcanic eruptions from this region are overdue and that we could therefore see significant activity within the next 50 years. 

Vatnajökull is also home to enchanting ice caves like the one pictured above, with glacier and ice cave tours available during the winter months. 

The glacier is shrinking year by year due to warming global temperatures; its thickness has decreased on average by about 3 feet (0.9 m) per year for the past 15 years. 

4. WAITOMO GLOWWORM CAVES, NEW ZEALAND

If you fancy swapping a night under the stars for a different kind of light show, New Zealand's famous glowworm caves may be just the ticket. 

According to NewZealand.com, the Waitomo Caves offer some of the best glowworm sights in the country. Take a trip through the Waitomo Caves either by boat, kayak or on foot and gaze up at the thousands of glowworms that call these caves home. The unique environment looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, with strange creatures illuminating the way like a star-studded sky. 

Glowworms produce light via a chemical reaction, in a process known as bioluminescence, according to the Natural History Museum in London.

5. SALAR DE UYUNI SALT FLATS, BOLIVIA

The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt flat in the world, spanning over 3,800 square miles (10,000 sqaure km), according to the European Space Agency The colossal salt flat is so large it can be seen from space. 

The salt flat can reach depths of 32 feet (10 m) in its center. According to the travel website Salardeuyuni.com, Salar de Uyuni contains over 10 billion tons of salt. Interestingly, 70% of the world's lithium reserves are also found beneath the monumental salt flat. 

These alluring salt flats in Bolivia's surreal Altiplano are a must-visit for those eager to experience something extraordinary.

6. SOSSUSVLEI, NAMIB DESERT

The towering red dunes in Sossusvlei are some of the tallest in the world, reaching nearly 1,300 feet (400 m), according to the travel website Sossusvlei. It's no surprise that they're one of the most visited attractions in Namibia. 

The Martian-like environment is situated in the largest conservation area in Africa, the Namib-Naukluft National Park. The word Sossusvlei translates to "dead- end" and refers to the dunes preventing the Tsauchab River from flowing any further. 

It has taken millions of years for the wind to sculpt these famous red dunes. The dune-forming dust comes from the Orange River — the longest river in South Africa. The dust flows into the Atlantic Ocean, where the Benguela current carries it northward. It then washes ashore, is carried by the wind and deposited inland.

7. LAKE HILLIER, AUSTRALIA

Lake Hillier, located on Middle Island, Western Australia, definitely looks like it belongs on another planet. The stark contrast between the pink lake, dark blue waters of the Indian Ocean and the luscious green forest are remarkable. 

According to the travel website Hiller Lake, scientists are not 100% sure how the lake gets its rosy pink hue. The most likely suspect is the  Dunaliella salina  microalgae found in the lake, which produce carotenoids — a red pigment. But halophilic "salt-loving" bacteria in the salt crusts may also play a role. It has also been suggested that a reaction between the salt and sodium bicarbonate could be altering the color of the lake. 

The mysterious salmon-pink lake is approximately 2000 feet (600 m) long and 820 ft (250 m) wide and is best viewed from the air. 

8. LENÇÓIS MARANHENSES NATIONAL PARK, BRAZIL

Lençois Maranhenses National Park contains vast swathes of white dunes sweeping across the otherworldly landscape. According to the travel website Lonely Planet, from May to September rainwater fills the crystal-clear pools, which are offset by striking white dunes. 

The enchanting dunescape stretches over 43 miles (70 km) along the coast and over 30 miles (50 km) inland. Lençois translates as "bedsheets" in Portuguese and refers to the rolling white dunes that dominate the landscape. 

The national park is best visited in June, July and August, when the lagoons are at their best, according to Lonely Planet.

9. DANAKIL DEPRESSION, ETHIOPIA

The Danakil Depression, Ethiopia, is one of the most inhospitable and alien places on Earth. Known as the "gateway to hell" according to the BBC, the Danakil Depression is probably the closest you'll ever be able to come to standing on the surface of Venus (without the crushing atmosphere, of course). Choking sulphuric acid and chlorine gases fill the air, while acid ponds and geysers pepper the landscape. 

According to the BBC, temperatures in this region regularly reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius), making it one of the hottest places on Earth.

The Danakil Depression lies over 330 feet (100 m) below sea level in a rift valley. Rift valleys are formed when tectonic plates move apart at a "divergent plate boundary," according to The Geological Society. The underlying volcanic activity sculpts the landscape as Earth is pulled apart at the seams. Some of the Danakil Depression features can even be seen from space, according to NASA Earth Observatory.

10. KILAUEA VOLCANO, HAWAII

On the south coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, lava from the Kilauea volcano spews into the Pacific Ocean, creating striking scenes along the rugged coastline. 

Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, according to the travel website Go Hawaii. It is located in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, about 45 miles (72 km) southwest of the vibrant town of Hilo. 

According to the volcano tourism website Volcano Discovery, Kilauea has been continually erupting since 1983. During that time, lava flows from the volcano have covered more than 38 square miles (100 square km) and destroyed almost 200 homes. 

For the latest eruption updates, see the travel website Hawaii Guide and keep informed about the most recent lava news.

11. PAMUKKALE, TURKEY

Pamukkale, known as the "Cotton Castle" of Turkey, is a serene landscape dotted with mineral pools surrounded by white "cotton-like" shelves and ridges. 

The unique landscape was created when a spring with a high concentration of calcium bicarbonate spilled over the edge of a cliff and cascaded down the side. The water leaves behind the white calcium deposits we see today, according to the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism. 

Tourists from far and wide flock to Pamukkale to relax in the calm waters and the myriad spas that have sprung up across the region. 

12. RAINBOW MOUNTAIN, PERU

Rainbow Mountain is located in the Andes Mountains of Peru, about 17,000 feet (5,200 m) above sea level, according to the Rainbow Mountain tourism website. The streaked mountain is famed for its technicolor appearance, which is created by different mineral sediments. 

Until recently, this rainbow jewel of the Andes was undiscovered, hidden beneath a blanket of snow. As the snow melted, the hidden gem was revealed, and the area now attracts hundreds of visitors every day. 

Rainbow Mountain is also known as Vinicunca, according to the official tourism website Rainbow Mountain Peru. The word Vinicunca originates from Quechua — an indigenous language of Peru — and translates to "colored mountain".

13. KAWAH IJEN VOLCANO, EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

The electric-blue rivers ejected from Kawah Ijen volcano in eastern Java look like something from another world.

Contrary to what is commonly reported, the lava itself is not blue. The striking color is a result of volcanic sulfur emissions. According to Geology.com), the volcano emits sulfurous gases that ignite when they meet Earth's oxygen-rich atmosphere and burn with a rich blue flame. When the sulfurous gas condenses, it produces the infamous blue rivers that illuminate the volcanic landscape at night. 

According to Smithsonian Magazine, the eerie blue glow is only visible at night because it's the flames that are blue rather than the lava itself. It looks like any other volcano during the daytime.

14. HAN SON DOONG, VIETNAM

Deep in the heart of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Vietnam is Han Son Doong — the largest cave in the world. According to the Son Doong Cave tourism website, the average passage size for Han Son Doong is 220 feet (67 m). The cave is, on average, 656 feet (200 m) high and nearly 500 feet (150 m) wide. 

In 2019, Han Son Doong's known size increased greatly when an underwater tunnel connecting the cave to another cave was discovered, according to an article published in Lonely Planet. 

The otherworldy cave is large enough to house a block of New York City containing 40-story skyscrapers and is home to the world's largest stalagmites, which measure up to 260 ft (80 m), according to the Doong Cave tourism website.

15. FLY GEYSER, NEVADA, U.S.

What do you get if you cross human error and geothermal pressure? A 12-ft-tall (3.5 meters) alien-looking structure. 

Fly Geyser is a technicolor geyser situated on Fly Ranch in the middle of the Nevada desert. The structure spews out hot water, creating shallow pools home to hardy thermophilic algae that flourish in moist, hot environments, according to the tourism website Reno Tahoe. 

The geyser was created by accident in 1964 when a geothermal energy company drilled the site in a bid to tap into the hot water below. But the water wasn't hot enough to be useful to the energy company, so the site was sealed up. According to Reno Tahoe, the well was improperly plugged and the scalding hot water pierced through the surface, creating the bizarre three-mound geyser we see today.

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News from the Columbia Climate School

This Earth Day, Choose the Planet Over Plastics

Olga Rukovets

In honor of Earth Day on April 22, the Climate School has a variety of great events and stories lined up throughout the entire month of April. Find out more  here . 

Since 1970, every April 22 has served as a salient reminder of the urgent need for greater environmental awareness and climate action. This year’s Earth Day—with the theme of Planet vs. Plastics —is no different, setting a lofty goal of ending plastic consumption and demanding a 60% reduction in all plastics production by 2040.

Currently, we generate about 400 million metric tons of plastic waste every year worldwide —roughly the collective weight of the human population—according to the United Nations Environment Programme . Nearly 36% of this plastic is used in packaging, including single-use products for food and beverage containers, and about 85% ends up in landfills.

And these alarming numbers continue to grow, with production predicted to reach a staggering 1,100 million metric tons by 2050 , absent any sort of intervention.

At State of the Planet, we’ve spent years covering the fight against plastic pollution and the search for solutions to safeguard a healthier and more sustainable future. Take a look at some of our stories below and keep reading State of the Planet for ongoing coverage this Earth Month and year-round.

• Bottled Water Can Contain Hundreds of Thousands of Previously Uncounted Tiny Plastic Bits, Study Finds : In a groundbreaking new study, researchers found that bottled water contained 10 to 100 times more tiny plastic particles than we previously assumed.
• How Do We Clean Up All That Ocean Plastic? : With the growing number of plastics polluting our oceans, many organizations are attempting to clean up the water, but solving this problem will also require big changes on land.
• More Plastic Is On the Way: What It Means for Climate Change : Fossil fuel companies are ramping up production of plastics, with huge potential consequences for the climate and our environment.
• Reduce. Reuse. And Then, When All Else Fails, Recycle : Recycling gets all the attention, but emphasizing reduction and reuse can do so much more to manage waste and curb climate emissions.
• Now’s the Time For Lawmakers to Care About Microplastics : Regulating these tiny, ubiquitous bits of plastic will not only address a public health threat, but also our dependence on fossil fuels.  
• The Truth About Bioplastics : While considered more eco-friendly than traditional plastic, bioplastics still have considerable negative impact on the environment.

Related Posts

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A Virtual Reality Film That Makes the Climate Crisis Feel “Real”

Celebrate over 50 years of Earth Day with us all month long! Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.

I am an artist and I love reusing the “throwaway” plastics for my art projects. I have three sons and I have taught everyone of them since they were little about the importance of Earth Day. This is a big event for us and I am proud to be a person who tries to make a difference in the world.

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