Short article on earth
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Our home planet provides us with life and protects us from space.Earth seems to fill the sky in this image taken by the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972. The picture marked the first time astronauts were able to photograph the south polar ice cap.Earth, our home planet, is a world unlike any other. The third planet from the sun, Earth is the only place in the known universe confirmed to host life.
With a radius of 3,959 miles, Earth is the fifth largest planet in our solar system, and it's the only one known for sure to have liquid water on its surface. Earth is also unique in terms of monikers. Every other solar system planet was named for a Greek or Roman deity, but for at least a thousand years, some cultures have described our world using the Germanic word “earth,” which means simply “the ground.”
Earth is one of the eight planets that orbit, or travel around, the Sun in the solar system. It is the third planet from the Sun. Earth travels around the Sun at an average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). It appears bright and bluish when seen from outer space.
Earth is the only planet in the solar system that can support life. Life is possible on Earth because the planet has water on its surface and oxygen gas in its air. Earth also has the perfect range of temperatures for life. It is not too hot, like Venus, and not too cold, like Neptune. The average temperature on Earth is about 59° F (15° C).
Land covers about 30 percent of Earth’s surface. The land is divided into seven huge pieces called continents. These continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.
Water covers about 70 percent of Earth’s surface. This water is in the form of oceans, rivers, lakes, and groundwater. The four major water bodies on Earth are the Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. They surround the continents. Some water is frozen. For example, there are large ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
The layer of gases surrounding Earth is called the atmosphere. This is the air that living things breathe. Earth’s atmosphere goes up to a few hundred miles above the surface. The atmosphere gets thinner as it gets farther from the surface. It contains mostly water vapor and the gases nitrogen (77 percent) and oxygen (21 percent.