9) Earth is the only planet in our solar system known to support life.Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are even bigger! 8) The Earth’s diameter (distance straight through the middle) measures a huge 12,800 kilometres, making it the fifth largest planet in the solar system.It’s this force that pulls things towards the Earth and stops us floating off into space! Gravity is an invisible force that attracts objects towards each other. 7) This ‘bulge’ is caused by the Earth’s spin and the effect of ‘ gravity‘.But, in fact, its shape is more like a squished ball that bulges out at the equator –– an imaginary line around the middle of the planet, exactly between the North Pole and the South Pole. 6) People often think of Earth as a gigantic sphere.The result? We have daytime and nighttime! As the planet rotates, the side facing the sun receives daylight and the the other is in darkness. 5) Not only does Earth zoom through space, it also spins on its axis.This means that different parts of the globe are tilted towards the sun at different times of the year (or at different times during its orbit). 4) Have you ever wondered why we have different seasons? We’ll tell you –– it’s because the Earth is tilted 23.4 degrees on its ‘axis’, an imaginary line straight through the middle of the planet form the North Pole to the South Pole.
LIVING EARTH SCHOOL FULL
And it does so at some serious speed –– around 30 kilometres per second, in fact! It takes 365 days (one year) for the Earth to complete one full orbit. 3) Like all the planets, Earth orbits (travels around) around the sun.By researching our planet’s rocks, scientists have calculated the Earth to be around 4.5 billion years old! 2) Our amazing planet has been around for quite some time.
![living earth school living earth school](https://oneearthschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Foto-6-1.jpg)
Its name comes from the the old English and Germanic words meaning ‘ the ground’.