SPAC E
EARTH
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WHAT IS THE MOST thoroughly investigated planet in the Solar
System? Earth, of course - more is known about it than about any other
Inner
planet. Like all the others, it is unique. It has features that are not found
core anywhere else in the Solar System. An obvious one is that it is the only
planet supporting life. But the presence of water is equally unique. These
two factors shaped its evolution from a molten planet with a hydrogen
rich atmosphere to today's world. Life started in Earth's oceans 3,000
million years ago. The development of life forms helped produce today's
atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen which in turn helps provide the
EARTH STRUCTURE conditions to maintain life. Earth is the third nearest planet to the Sun.
The young Earth was formed with
the other Solar System planets 4,600
It has one natural satellite - the Moon.
million years ago. At first it was cold, ACTIVE EARTH
but radioactivity heated it until it The surface of Earth is constantly changing. Its crust is made of enormous
melted. The heavy iron sank to the moving slabs or plates. Volcanoes and earthquakes occur as these plates
centre and the lighter rocks floated collide and rub together or slip beneath
� each other. Molten rock forces
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to the top. Today, Earth's iron core
is surrounded by a fluid mantle of •
its way to the surface. In
rock. The rocky surface crust we live this way, the
on is only a few miles thick. Earth 's crust
PLANET EARTH
Earth shines brightly in space. It
reflects about one-third of the
sunlight that falls on it. Earth's
atmosphere scatters the light
and creates a predominantly
blue-coloured planet. Brown
land masses are visible, as are
the oceans that cover around
two-thirds of the Earth' s
surface . The Pacific Ocean EARTH ATMOSPHERE
alone covers half the globe. Compared to its neighbour Venus, Earth has
a thin atmosphere - thin, but very useful. It is
Many clouds can be seen thin enough to let sunlight through, but thick
in the atmosphere. enough to bar the way of other forms of harmful
radiation from the Sun; ultraviolet rays, dangerous
to human life, are mostly filtered out. The
atmosphere also slows down and vaporizes tiny
space rocks known as meteoroids. It also
provides the air we breathe.
The fact that
The conditions on
Earth travels Earth are just right for
around the lite forms such as us!
Sun has been
accepted for
less than 400 years. Copernicus,
the 1 6th-century Polish
astronomer, is usually credited
with disproving that the
Universe is Earth-centred. But a
Greek astronomer, Aristarchus, EARTH LANDSCAPE
( 3 1 0-230 B.C.) working centuries Millions of years ago, an
atmosphere of carbon dioxide, Find out more
earlier, had the idea first. Using
water vapour, and nitrogen formed
geometry, he worked out the around Earth. The water vapour FORMATION OF
relative sizes and distances of formed rain which made the oceans. THE EARTH P. 2 1 0
the Sun and Moon. He Today, both o f these features are very STRUCTURE OF
concluded that as the Sun is by important. Water is exchanged THE EARTH P.2 1 2
between the atmosphere and the SoLAR SYSTEM P. 283
far the largest, the Earth must FACT FINDER P.4 1 8
oceans, while the atmosphere acts like a
travel around the Sun.
blanket t o keep a n almost even temperature.
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