- Earth is almost five billion years old, although life has only existed on the planet for the last 150 to 200 million years. This means that life has been present on the planet for only 5%-10% of its lifetime.
- Earth is the only planet in the Solar System to have water in all its three states of matter: solid (ice), liquid (sea, rain, etc.) and gas (clouds).
- The length of time it takes for Earth to orbit the Sun is 365 and a quarter days. To make up this extra quarter, which isn't counted at the end of a year, we have an extra day every four years i.e. on 29th February.
- Earth and Mercury are the two densest planets in the Solar System.
- Despite being called Earth, only 29% of the surface is actually 'earth' (land). The rest of the planet's surface (71%) is made up of water.
- Earth is the only planet in the Solar System not to be named after a mythical God.
- Earth is the only planet in the Solar System known to be geologically active
- From a distance in space, Earth would seem to be the brightest of the 8 planets. This is because large amount of sunlight is reflected by the water on the planet.
- Earth has a diameter of 12,760 km and mass of about 5.972 x 1024 kg
- Earth's average distance from the Sun is 92,960,000 miles
- Earth has only one satellite, the Moon. Moon is the second brightest object in the sky, as seen from the planet.
- Earth is the fifth largest planet in the Solar System.
- Earth, along with Mercury, is densest planet in the Solar System.
- Earth's atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen (77%), oxygen (21%), argon (0.93%), and carbon dioxide (0.03%).
- The average distance between Earth and Moon is 238,857 miles (384,403.1 km).
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