knowledge about earth

[63] High-latitude regions have since undergone repeated cycles of glaciation and thaw, repeating about every 40,000–100,000 years. ", "Electricity generation – what are the options? During the summer, the day lasts longer, and the Sun climbs higher in the sky. Knowledge about EARTH. [144] Shifts in the oceanic temperature distribution can cause significant weather shifts, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Near Earth's surface, gravitational acceleration is approximately 9.8 m/s2 (32 ft/s2). [64], Chemical reactions led to the first self-replicating molecules about four billion years ago. Oxygenic photosynthesis evolved 2.7 Gya, forming the primarily nitrogen–oxygen atmosphere of today. Editor's Note: this list was originally published in 2012. This lower-density air then rises and is replaced by cooler, higher-density air. [235] As the Moon orbits Earth, different parts of its face are illuminated by the Sun, leading to the lunar phases. Because the Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun at about the same time that Earth reaches the closest approach to the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere receives slightly more energy from the Sun than does the northern over the course of a year. [108][112], The mean heat loss from Earth is 87 mW m−2, for a global heat loss of 4.42×1013 W.[114] A portion of the core's thermal energy is transported toward the crust by mantle plumes, a form of convection consisting of upwellings of higher-temperature rock. Less common is basalt, a denser volcanic rock that is the primary constituent of the ocean floors. Earth has never had a planetwide government, but the United Nations is the leading worldwide intergovernmental organization. [223] The southernmost is the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, in Antarctica, almost exactly at the South Pole (90°S). [79], Earth's expected long-term future is tied to that of the Sun. Over the period of hundreds of millions of years, tectonic forces have caused areas of continental crust to group together to form supercontinents that have subsequently broken apart. Over 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct. [170], The gravity of Earth is the acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the distribution of mass within Earth. Earth is a terrestrial planet. [233], The gravitational attraction between Earth and the Moon causes tides on Earth. But we didn’t know our place in the solar system for a long time. [118] The tectonic plates ride on top of the asthenosphere, the solid but less-viscous part of the upper mantle that can flow and move along with the plates. At the equator of the magnetic field, the magnetic-field strength at the surface is 3.05×10−5 T, with a magnetic dipole moment of 7.79×1022 Am2 at epoch 2000, decreasing nearly 6% per century. During these approaches, it can orbit Earth for brief periods of time. Scroll or pinch to zoom in and out. Tectonics and erosion, volcanic eruptions, flooding, weathering, glaciation, the growth of coral reefs, and meteorite impacts are among the processes that constantly reshape Earth's surface over geological time. [100], The most common rock constituents of the crust are nearly all oxides: chlorine, sulphur, and fluorine are the important exceptions to this and their total amount in any rock is usually much less than 1%. The changing Earth–Sun distance causes an increase of about 6.9%[n 20] in solar energy reaching Earth at perihelion relative to aphelion. [196], In modern times, Earth's perihelion occurs around 3 January, and its aphelion around 4 July. [217] Human population density varies widely around the world, but a majority live in Asia. 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia", "Hints of life on what was thought to be desolate early Earth", "Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon", "Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago", "SIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositions", "Freeze, Fry or Dry: How Long Has the Earth Got? The orbital and axial planes are not precisely aligned: Earth's axis is tilted some 23.44 degrees from the perpendicular to the Earth–Sun plane (the ecliptic), and the Earth–Moon plane is tilted up to ±5.1 degrees against the Earth–Sun plane. This article is about the planet. [250], Scientific investigation has resulted in several culturally transformative shifts in people's view of the planet. "Earth's atmosphere") but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the (e.g. According to nebular theory, planetesimals formed by accretion, with the primordial Earth taking 10–20 million years (Mys) to form. This lowest layer is called the troposphere. [149] This last phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect: trace molecules within the atmosphere serve to capture thermal energy emitted from the ground, thereby raising the average temperature. The development of agriculture, and then civilization, led to humans having an influence on Earth and the nature and quantity of other life forms that continues to this day. This imbalance adds up at the equator, where gravity pushes extra masses of water and earth into a bulge, or "spare tire" around our planet. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia at 600–540 Ma, then finally Pangaea, which also began to break apart at 180 Ma. Over the next 1.1 billion years, solar luminosity will increase by 10%, and over the next 3.5 billion years by 40%. [68] Among the earliest fossil evidence for life is microbial mat fossils found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia,[69] biogenic graphite found in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks in Western Greenland,[70] and remains of biotic material found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. [198] The distance of Earth from the Sun, as well as its orbital eccentricity, rate of rotation, axial tilt, geological history, sustaining atmosphere, and magnetic field all contribute to the current climatic conditions at the surface. [80] Earth's increasing surface temperature will accelerate the inorganic carbon cycle, reducing CO2 concentration to levels lethally low for plants (10 ppm for C4 photosynthesis) in approximately 100–900 million years. Stephanie Pappas - Live Science Contributor, As a red giant, the Sun will lose roughly 30% of its mass, so, without tidal effects, Earth will move to an orbit 1.7 AU (250 million km; 160 million mi) from the Sun when the star reaches its maximum radius. Alien worlds may be all the rage, with their mystique and promise, but the orb we call home, planet Earth, has all the makings for a jaw-dropping blockbuster movie: from the drama of explosive volcanoes, past meteor crashes and catastrophic collisions between rocky plates to the seeming fantasy of the ocean's deep abysses swirling with odd life and tales of the coldest, hottest, deepest, highest and all-out extreme spots. When atmospheric conditions permit an uplift of warm, humid air, this water condenses and falls to the surface as precipitation. What happened? [156], Further factors that affect a location's climates are its proximity to oceans, the oceanic and atmospheric circulation, and topology. [259], Lord Kelvin used thermodynamics to estimate the age of Earth to be between 20 million and 400 million years in 1864, sparking a vigorous debate on the subject; it was only when radioactivity and radioactive dating were discovered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that a reliable mechanism for determining Earth's age was established, proving the planet to be billions of years old. Ions and electrons of the solar wind are deflected by the magnetosphere; solar wind pressure compresses the dayside of the magnetosphere, to about 10 Earth radii, and extends the nightside magnetosphere into a long tail. The majority of Earth's polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack. Beneath the lithosphere is the asthenosphere, a relatively low-viscosity layer on which the lithosphere rides. [183][184], Earth's rotation period relative to the fixed stars, called its stellar day by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), is 86,164.0989 seconds of mean solar time (UT1), or 23h 56m 4.0989s. These plates are rigid segments that move relative to each other at one of three boundaries types: At convergent boundaries, two plates come together; at divergent boundaries, two plates are pulled apart; and at transform boundaries, two plates slide past one another laterally.

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