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We ’re favorable to populate on such an incredibly perfect satellite , where the melodic line is on the button the intermixture of chemical we demand , there ’s lots of water , and the temperature is just right — at least in some places some of the time . Of of course , in reality we ’re herebecauseof all those context that surrogate life as we know it . Here are 13 of the most fortunatefacts about ground :
1 . Third Rock : There ’s a reasonableness we ’ve found life on Earth and nowhere else . Our earth orb the sun at just the right distance — not too hot , not too cold . This habitable geographical zone is where water supply can survive in liquid strain — a basic requirement for life . Nobody is bragging about their oceanfront property on Mars or the cool duck soup on Venus .
This composite image uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on 6 March 2025.
2 . The Moon : But be thankful for our great big beautiful satellite . Without the lunation , you might not be here . Its gravitative towboat make tides ( with the help of the sun ) , and one possibility holds that sprightliness originated in tidal realm . Another evoke tides may have set up condition for ocean creatures to modulation and become the first kingdom animals . [ Top 10 Amazing Moon Facts ]
3 . Stable Rotation : Earth ’s rotation brings the sun up each morning and , gratefully , puts it back down . If it were n’t for this , one side of the human race would be unbearably scorched and the other would freeze out sprightliness to death . So you know , the synodic month is stealing some of Earth ’s rotational energy , slowing us down by about 1.5 milliseconds every C . If you may hang around for about 140 million years , you ’ll finally get that spare 60 minutes in the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. you ’ve been wish for .
4 . Constant Gravity : Nobody have a bun in the oven sombreness to go anywhere anytime soon , but it ’s interesting to note that scientists do n’t really understandhow gravity works . We take it for grant , but gravity help make us who we are . It define our forte , impart to the human body and form of every living thing . An average male human transported to Mars could dunk on a 26 - foot - tall hoops hoop ( due to the reduced gravity that presumptively give aliens those recollective necks ) . A 200 - pound sign man trying to stand on Jupiter ( proficient luck ) would weigh 480 pounds and would have to get a lot stronger just to jump more then a few inch . [ 6 Weird fact About Gravity ]
5 . Protective Magnetic Field : If Earth did not have a strong and relatively stable magnetic field , we ’d all be fried by cosmic ray and solar storms . That said , the sphere , which emanates from the magnetic pole and circle the satellite , is not actually all that stable . Since the former 1800s , the magnetic north celestial pole has crept northwards by more than 600 miles ( 1,100 kilometers ) . The rate has nibble up to about 40 naut mi ( 64 klick ) per year latterly , or so double the tempo a century ago . About every 300,000 geezerhood or so the magnetized perch switch , a process that takes thousands of age . scientist say we ’re overdue for another flip , which means your remote succeeding descendants will necessitate to buy new compasses .
6 . Temperate Zones : Some lifetime has adapted to the most frigid space on Earth ( include Antarctica , where the planet ’s disc low was set at minus 128.6 degrees Fahrenheit , or minus 89.2 degrees Celsius ) and its red-hot deserts ( including El Azizia , Libya , where the record high of 136 degrees atomic number 9 , 57.8 point C , was memorialize ) . But life achieves greatest variety in more temperate climes , namely the tropics , where moderation formula . [ North vs. South Poles : 10 Wild Differences ]
7 . The Deep Blue Sea : About 70 percentage of our world is covered by oceans . The significance ca n’t be overstated : Abundant liquid water is the most pregnant distinguishing element on this planet that supports lifetime .
8 . Sea Level : Oceans can be a blessing and a curse word . Until late tenner , the estimation of " sea storey " was a unchanging construct . That was fortunate for hoi polloi building beach houses . But the situation is convert . Melting ice capital and glaciers , along with warmer ocean , are do sea level to spring up . Some islands are in the unconscious process of going under , and coastal realm everywhere may be impress . Along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard , sea floor has risen0.08 inch ( 2 millimeters ) per class from 1950 to 2009 .
9 . Green , Not Purple : We take green for award , but green is an important semblance . It is nature ’s polarity that sunlight , C dioxide and water are being converted into plant food byphotosynthesis — the mental process that provides the basis for animal sprightliness . ahead of time in the planet ’s history , spirit may have been purple , one hypothesis goes , take on microbe used some molecule other than chlorophyll . Who knows if violet would have tasted good !
10 . Electric Earth : Dozens of U.S. occupant are killed by lightning every year . But lightning may be a tonality to the extraction of life history . With water , methane and other chemical in the atmosphere , lightning can create amino acids and simoleons that are building blocks of life . The well - known Miller - Urey experimentation in 1953 raised the hypothesis that lightning may have been a key to theorigin of life .
11 . Major Recycling Effort : Some human race are pretty inactive , even dead from a geologic perspective . They lack the inner apparent movement we callplate tectonics . Earth , on the other hand , is always change , recycle its crust into the mantle and fetch the superheated cloth from below back to the surface . Yes , that generates deadly earthquakes and killer volcano . But one hypothesis on the origin of life holds that it began around rich - sea volcanic vent , where there was heat and lots of interesting minerals oozing forth . Recycling on this huge weighing machine may thus be a winder to living .
12 . Space : Earth does n’t exist in a void . The space in oursolar systemis dotted with asteroids and comets , plus detritus and traces of gas pedal . Even now , little space rocks rain down on Earth daily . Big ones flap down into the planet often enough to keepNASAon constant sentry . And in the early days of the planet ’s formation , giant collision with comets and asteroids brought water and other important chemicals to the planet , making the pedigree of sprightliness possible . [ Top 10 Ways to destruct Earth ]
13 . Staying king : Earth was make about 4.54 billion years ago . It took hundreds of millions of years before unproblematic life forms appear . However , it was n’t until very late — around 585 million year ago — that any in advance multicellular animal life developed , and these were just bantam sluglike creatures the size of it of a pill . world have walked the surface of Earth for an center - eye blink of geologic clip — perhaps 4 million twelvemonth . If our star and our world had shorter life span — as many do — we ’d never have go on our own two feet and developed brains bad enough to ponder just how lucky we are to be here .
