Did You Know??

 20 Absolutely Fascinating Facts About Planet Earth

 

Antarctica is Earth's fifth-largest continent.

It may not be the largest or even the smallest continent (it's kind of just stuck in the middle) but Antarctica stores most of the world's freshwater—but more on that later.

 

The Antarctic Ice Cap contains 70 percent of Earth's freshwater. 

According to the American Museum of Natural History, only a little over 3 percent of the world's water is freshwater. The rest (96 percent) is salt—or saline—and is found in the ocean.

 

About 90 percent of Earth's freshwater is locked in ice.

That freshwater located in Antarctica? About 90 percent of it isn't even water at all—it's locked inside frozen polar ice sheets.

 

Antarctica is technically a desert.

Hard to believe, right, given all that fresh water and ice? But it's true, as Antarctica sees an average of about 2 inches of precipitation per year.

 

Earth kinda, sorta has other "moons."

Well, kind of. Called 3753 Cruithne and Asteroid 2002 AA29 —two asteroids that also orbit the sun—are sometimes considered Earth's "moons" even though they don't really fit the bill. Both asteroids remain very close to Earth—as close as 3.9 million miles every 95 years.

 

The Amazon is Earth's biggest rainforest.

Located in the South American Amazon, the world's biggest rainforest is where more than 30 million people and one in 10 known species on Earth call home.

 

The deepest point on the ocean floor is 36,200 feet below sea level.

It's located in the Mariana Trench, according to NOAA.

 

Earth's lowest point not covered by the ocean is 8,382 feet below sea level.

But it's impossible to get to. That's because it's located under layers and layers of ice in the Bentley Subglacial Trench in Antarctica.

 

The lowest point on land is the Dead Sea.

Found between Jordan, Israel, and West Bank, the lake known as the Dead Sea is located 1,400 feet below sea level, the European Space Agency (ESA) says.

 

About 6,000 lightning strikes happen on Earth per minute?

Per minute!

 

Greenland is the world's largest island.

It's about one-fourth the size of Australia and is the world's largest island that is not a continent in and of itself.

 

There are billions of people living on Earth.

As of 2020, that number is as big as 7.753 billion.

 

Earth is approximately 93 million miles away from the sun.

According to Space.com, that's 150 million kilometers away.

The Earth is approximately 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun, according to Space.com. At this distance, it takes about 8 minutes and 19 seconds for sunlight to reach our planet.

 

It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for sunlight to reach us.

Being that we're 93 million miles away, that's how long it takes for the sun's rays to hit our planet.

 

Earth may have actually had two moons at one point.

And no, we're not talking about 3753 Cruithne and Asteroid 2002 AA29. According to Space.com, it's possible (but not proven) that Earth might have had another moon—one about 750 miles wide. Scientists that buy into this theory hypothesize that this tiny moon may have crashed into the other one.

 

The largest living thing in the world is a fungus.

A massive fungus, at that! Known as the honey mushroom (or Armillaria), this fungus spans 2,200 acres across Oregon.

 

The oldest shark in the world is a Greenland Shark.

In fact, according to Live Science, Greenlands are so old they don't even have backbones. These sea creatures grow to be as mature as 392 years old.

 

Greenland has the lowest population of any country on Earth.

A 2016 census found that 55,847 people lived in 836,330 square miles in Greenland with most communities sitting on the coastline.

 

Earth used to be purple... apparently.

Some experts—like Shil DasSarma—believe that Earth may have been purple at one point in time. Fueling that fire is the fact that ancient microbes may have relied on a different molecule other than the green chlorophyll to grab the sun's rays. Instead, that molecule—retinal—could have made things we know as green today look more purple.

 

The moon may have been formed as the result of a collision.

Not a ton of information is known about how the moon was created, but one hypothesis claims that a planet, asteroid, or perhaps a comet—called Theia—collided into Earth, resulting in debris flying into space. That debris may have formed the moon as we know it today.

 

Source: https://parade.com by Stephanie Osmanski