How Does Earth Work?

Earth is the second solar system in the Solar System and the only celestial body known to host and support living organisms. It orbits the Sun about 4.6 billion miles (7.2 billion kilometers) from the center of the Solar System. It has oceans, clouds, atmosphere, and rivers. Earth’s crust is tectonically active. The interior of Earth is made up of many interior layers of rock, ice, magma, and soil. Some geologists think that there are living organisms on Earth.

The composition of this planet is similar to that of other rocky bodies in our solar system. Its mineralogy is composed mainly of iron, nickel, aluminum, calcium, silicate, and oxygen. About 29.6% of Earth is land, with the remaining percentage being water (liquid), lakes, seas, and clouds. A major component of the earth’s crust is solid matter like rock or coral. The planet’s temperature is about equatorial because the poles receive cooler temperatures from the Sun, while the equator and tropical regions experience warmer temperatures. The innermost edge of the earth’s surface is covered with ice.

The inner layers of the earth contain organic materials such as coral, plants, and fungus. Evidence for life on Earth can be found in its fossil fuels, such as oil, gas, and coal, as well as in the radioactive decay of rocks. About two-thirds of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans. The planet’s largest planet, Jupiter, also orbits very close to it, and it pulls a large portion of the solar system’s radiation into itself, thus heating the planet at an extremely high temperature.

Geologists trace the earth’s age back to about four billion years. At that time, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and they created layers of strata which we now call rock. The continents were then separated and eventually separate further until they became what we know today as the Asian continent and the North American continent. The earth spun out onto its axis as the sun took center stage in the solar system, and the wobble caused by the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars cause the planet to rotate.

About 6.5 billion years ago, the earth wobbled its way around another large planet called Triton, causing massive amounts of water to evaporate from the ocean. The resulting impact vaporized the seawater, which cooled and slowed down the Earth’s rotation. It spun faster, and the centrifugal force disturbed the other parts of the planet. About two to three weeks later, the largest impacts occurred, and those impacted areas are known as plate boundaries.

Evidence shows that the moon has played a major role in our climate. Because it is nearly round, it was a better place for solar systems to originate from. Many believe that the evidence is more likely to be volcanic than solar. Although NASA hasn’t gotten a very good record of how the climate changed over the last billion years, they have some theories as to what caused the ice sheets on the north polar region to melt, which melted and drained to the sea, and the polar tilt of the planet.