The numbers
- Diameter
- 7,926mi(12,756 km)
- Distance from the Sun
- 92,960,000mi(149,600,000 km)
- Length of a year
- 365.2days
- Average temperature
- 59°F(15 °C)
- Moons
- 1
To get an idea
The Earth is the biggest and the densest of the four rocky planets.
Water covers most of the surface: seen from far away the Earth is blue, not brown.
Fun facts
These are not in the book: there was no room on paper.
Three quarters of all the air on the planet is in the first seven miles above our heads.
Earth's magnetic shield formed a very long time ago, about four billion years ago.
The Earth has only one moon, and it is big compared with its planet, more than almost any other moon.
It is not a perfect sphere: it spins so fast that it is a little squashed at the poles.
It is the only body in the Solar System where we know for sure that life exists.
Test yourself
The first question is the one printed under the QR code, with the answer the book did not give. The other four only exist here.
Question 1 of 5★ is the one from your book
What makes the Earth different from the other rocky planets?
Question 2 of 5
What is the Earth's core made of?
Question 3 of 5
What does Earth's magnetic field do?
Question 4 of 5
Why is the daytime sky blue?
Question 5 of 5
How many moons does the Earth have?
Riddles
I have only one companion circling me and a blanket of air that keeps me warm. Without that blanket I would be a frozen desert. What am I?
No ancient god lent me a name, unlike my brothers. And yet, so far, I am the only one where anyone has ever been born. What am I?
Try it yourself
Put one glass of water in the sun and one in the fridge. The Earth sits right in between: no boiling, no freezing, and the water stays liquid.
Use a compass to find north around the house. That needle moves thanks to the same magnetic shield that protects us from the Sun.
The words
- magnetic field
- An invisible force around the planet that turns aside the Sun's particles.
Sources: Wikidata (Q2), Wikipedia (Terra) and NASA.