Facts about Earth

1. 14

   Ozone in Earth's stratosphere absorbs 97 to 99 percent of the sun's ultraviolet radiation, protecting surface life from severe DNA damage and skin cancer.

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2. 13

   Plate tectonics cause Earth's continents to drift at rates between 2 and 10 centimeters per year, the speed fingernails grow.

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3. 12

   Liquid water exists on Earth's surface largely because our planet orbits within the habitable zone of the Sun, maintaining average surface temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius.

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4. 11

   Rainwater takes approximately 9 days to travel from Earth's surface through the water cycle back to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration.

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5. 10

   Venus rotates so slowly that one Venusian day lasts 243 Earth days, making it longer than Venus's 225-day orbit around the sun.

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6. 09

   A year on Earth lasts 365.25 days because our planet completes one orbit around the sun in that exact time period, requiring the leap day adjustment every four years.

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7. 08

   Earthquakes release approximately 500,000 times more energy than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, with the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake registering 9.1 magnitude.

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8. 07

   Magnetic reversal of Earth's poles occurs irregularly, with the most recent reversal happening approximately 780,000 years ago during the Brunhes-Matuyama transition.

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9. 06

   Every day, approximately 100 tons of cosmic dust and sand-sized particles settle onto Earth's surface from space.

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10. 05

    Oxygen production by ocean phytoplankton generates approximately 50 to 80 percent of Earth's atmospheric oxygen despite covering less than 1 percent of the planet's surface.

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11. 04

    At 6,371 kilometers, Earth's mean radius makes it the fifth largest planet in our solar system by diameter.

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12. 03

    Approximately 71 percent of Earth's surface is covered by water, containing 97.5 percent salt water and only 2.5 percent fresh water.

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13. 02

    In 1912, Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift theory, explaining how Earth's landmasses have moved across the planet over 200 million years.

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14. 01

    The Mariana Trench's deepest point, Challenger Deep, reaches approximately 10,994 meters below sea level.

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