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Curiosities and lesser known things about planet Earth

Earth… Our only home, our only hope, the only planet on which - as far as we know so far - humanity can survive.


We suggest you test your knowledge by going through these curiosities about planet Earth. So here are ten fascinating things about the celestial body that we call "our home."

 

Planet Earth is not a perfect sphere

Usually, our planet is represented as a perfect sphere, but this is not its exact shape. The earth is flattened at the poles, so that its contour looks more like an ellipse than a circle.

As with other planets, gravity and the centrifugal force produced by the rotation around the planet's axis create the two poles (flattened) and the equator (slightly convex).

Thus, the diameter of the Earth at the equator is about 43 kilometers larger than the diameter from one pole to another.


Water covers over 70% of the Earth's surface


On Earth, water is in a solid, liquid and gaseous state. In addition, it covers three quarters of the Earth's surface in the form of swamps, lakes, rivers, seas and oceans.

The latter contain about 97% of all water on the planet.


 

The boundary between Earth and space is 100 kilometers above sea level

The boundary between the planet's atmosphere and space is called the Karman Line. It is located 100 kilometers above sea level.

75% of the atmospheric mass is in the first 11 kilometers of the atmosphere, measured from the surface of the sea upwards.


Planet Earth is an "iron planet"

Earth is the densest planet, ranking fifth in the Solar System in size. The most abundant chemical elements on our planet are iron (about 32%), oxygen (about 30%) and silicon (about 15%).
Earth
The core of the Earth is composed mainly of iron. Photo: newatlas.com

Scientists believe that the Earth's core is composed mainly of iron (about 88%).



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