Did you know?
Home sweet home
We spend a lot of time talking about our world, but just how informed are we? Here are some facts about where we live (all data supplied by National Geographic):
- Earth is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old, give or take around 50 million years.
- Earth is the third planet from the sun and is the only place in the known universe confirmed to host life.
- Earth orbits the sun once every 365.25 days. Our calendar years have only 365 days, so we add an extra leap day every four years to account for the difference.
- Though we can’t feel it, Earth zooms through its orbit at an average velocity of 18.5 miles a second.
- Earth’s atmosphere is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and argon. Much like a greenhouse, this blanket of gases absorbs and retains heat.
- Almost 70% of Earth’s surface is covered in oceans of liquid water that average 2.5 miles deep. These bodies of water contain 97% of Earth’s volcanoes and the mid-ocean ridge, which is more than 40,000 miles long, is the longest mountain ridge on earth.
- Earth rotates on its axis every 23.9 hours, defining day and night. This axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees away from the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun, giving us seasons.
