ABOUT THE EARTH

The third planet from the Sun is your home.

The Earth is the only known planet where life can survive. As far as we know, there is no other planet in the universe like Earth. We have a very narrow temperature range that allows water to remain a liquid. Life has developed over millions of years because of that liquid. What else makes us special? We have an atmosphere made up of nitrogen, a relatively inert gas. If we had clouds of sulfuric acid or methane, life may never have developed.

The Plates

There are also huge landmasses on our planet. The rock plates that float across the surface are called tectonic plates. Those plates float on the mantle. The mantle is an area between the core and the crust. That mantle is basically filled with molten rock. It is kept in a liquid state because of the energy given off by the center (core) of the Earth. Scientists have also discovered that the pressure increases as you move towards the center of the planet.

The core of the Earth has extreme temperatures and pressures that keep the iron and metals liquid and flowing.

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