The most interesting information about the earth. Interesting facts about soil and soil

Our planet still holds many mysteries. And those discoveries about the Earth that have long been made public, we do not cease to be surprised to this day. We present 40 interesting facts about the planet Earth. Perhaps some of them will be news to you.

1. The Earth is the third planet from the Sun. This is the only planet known to us with an oxygen atmosphere, oceans and life.

2. The earth is not really a perfect spherical shape. Due to the imbalance of gravitational and centrifugal forces in the equatorial region around the planet, there is a slight swelling, similar to a car spare tire.

3. The earth has a "waist" - the length of the equator is 40,075 km.

4. You think you are standing still, but you are actually moving. And all because the Earth revolves around the Sun and around its axis. Depending on where you are, you can move through space at speeds in excess of 1,600 km/h.

At the equator, people move faster, and those who stand at the North or South Pole are practically motionless.

5. The speed of rotation of the Earth around the Sun is 107,826 km/h.

6. The researchers calculated the age of the Earth - about 4,540 million years.

7. Hot magma is located in the Earth's core.

8. High and low tides are due to the activity of the moon - a satellite of our planet.

9. According to the US Geological Survey, the largest earthquake in the world with a magnitude of 9.5 occurred in Chile on May 22, 1960.

10. The hottest point on the planet is the Libyan city of El Azizia. In 1922, a temperature record was recorded here - 57.8 ° C.

11. The coldest place on the planet is Antarctica. In winter, temperatures can drop to -73°C. The lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was recorded at the Vostok Rossii station in 1983. It was -89.2°С.

12. The South Pole is the territory of the Earth covered with Antarctic ice, containing about 70% of the fresh water on the planet and about 90% of all ice.

13. The world's largest stalagmite was discovered in Cuba in San Martin - its height is 67.2 meters.

14. The highest mountain on Earth is Everest. Its height above sea level is 8,848 meters. Also known as Chomolungma (Tibet.) or Sagarmatha (Nepal.).

15. Earth may have once had two moons, researchers say.

16. There are moving stones on Earth - they make a "walk" on the Playa plateau in Death Valley (USA).

17. The longest mountain range on our planet is under water - its length is 65,000 km.

18. The deepest point in the world ocean is located in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean at a depth of 10,916 meters.

19. In Cameroon, on the border between Rwanda and the Republic of the Congo, there are three deadly lakes that are located in craters. The magma below them emits deadly carbon dioxide.

20. The lowest point in relation to sea level is between Jordan, Israel and the West Bank - the Dead Sea is located here, the surface of which is 423 meters below sea level.

21. Due to climate change, the planet is losing its water reserves. It is estimated that from 2004 to 2009 the ice has decreased by 40%.

22. People put different experiments on the Earth. For example, the nuclear tests of 1950 still remind of themselves. Traces of those explosions - radioactive dust in the atmosphere of the planet - fall to the ground with precipitation.

23. Some scientists believe that millions of years ago, our planet was not green-blue, but purple because of the bacteria living on it.

24. One lightning strike can heat the air up to 30,000°C.

25. The oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface, but people have explored only 5% of them.

26. According to some experts, deposits of precious metals may be hidden in the seas, in particular, at least 20 million tons of gold.

27. Every day our planet is sprinkled with cosmic dust - about 100 tons of interplanetary material, mainly in the form of dust, settles on Earth.

28. The distance from the Earth to the Sun is almost 150 million km. Light overcomes it in 8 minutes 19 seconds.

29. The fate of the moon has not yet been clarified. It is not known exactly how it was formed.

30. All the continents on Earth were once one.

31. The longest mountain range on land is the Himalayas (2,900 km).

32. The Hawaiian Kilauea volcano is the most active in the world, it erupts more often than anyone else.

33. The largest volcanic eruption was recorded in April 1815 - it was an explosion on Mount Tambora.

34. The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean basin on Earth, covering an area of ​​about 155 million square meters. km and contains more than half of the free water on the planet.

35. The largest living organism on Earth is a mushroom, discovered in 1992 in Oregon.

36. The smallest mammal in the world is the pig-nosed bat.

37. The most populous city in the world is Manila in the Philippines. As of 2007, more than 1.6 million people lived in an area of ​​38.55 square meters. km.

38. The country with the lowest population density is Greenland. According to 2010 data, here on an area of ​​​​2.16 million square meters. km country is home to about 56.5 thousand people.

39. The driest place on the planet is the Atacama Desert in Chile and Peru. In its center there are places where it has never rained.

40. The aurora borealis, which is visible even from space, is due to electrical discharges arising in rarefied air.

In the modern world, with the current speed of life, rarely does anyone think about the soil of our Earth. People tend to take it for granted. But after all, without soil, neither flora, nor fauna, nor man could exist. It took nature thousands of years to create the soil familiar to us. At first, only rock covered the planet. Over time, it has been exposed to external natural factors: minerals, erosion, rain. Over time, the remains of plants and microorganisms, a dead tree, fallen leaves were added to it, which added useful elements to the composition and improved the properties of the soil. The mineral composition is also not the same over the entire surface of the Earth and depends on many geological factors. The main significance of the soil of the planet is that it transmits through itself all the useful elements necessary for the development of the flora.

There are three layers that make up the soil. The very first level is the underlying rock. The middle layer is subsoil or rock residual rock. The upper - arable level - is the most fertile due to the high content of nutrients and useful elements, in particular humus.
The basis of every soil is 3 elements: sand, silt and clay. The composition and properties determine the proportions in which they are presented. For example, if there is more sand, then this is sandy soil, which passes liquid well, it quickly warms up under the sun and freezes in winter. Clay soil reacts very slowly to changes in the seasons and contributes to stagnation of water. Silt in its pure form is almost never found. It can only be found where the riverbed once was. Its quality is very similar to sandy soil, but more fertile.

All these elements (sand, silt and clay) are contained in equal amounts in loam. It is considered the most collapsible, easiest to process and quite prolific soil. The fertility of loam depends on the presence of humus in it, as in principle in any other soil. But it combines all the advantages of other soils: the porosity and lightness of sandy soil, the ability to retain maximum water, like clay soil.


Forest land is characteristic of forests in the mostly temperate regions of the northern hemisphere of the planet. The quality is directly determined by the trees that grow there, because they directly affect the structure of the soil. For example, coniferous trees have a negative impact on forest soil due to the formation of podzolic soils. But deciduous trees, on the contrary, have a good effect on forest land: they introduce a large amount of nitrogen, humus, ash into the soil, thereby creating a suitable environment for microflora. But, nevertheless, forest soils in any of their representations are nutritious, because ash, nitrogen from needles, fallen leaves return back to the ground.

The podzolic land of temperate regions is characteristic of coniferous and mixed forests. It is characterized by a grayish color due to the content of humus in them. The increased acidity and low content of useful elements makes this soil practically devoid of fertility. Negative temperatures, heavy rainfall and lack of evaporation, reduced activity of bacteria, poor flora greatly affect their formation. Farmers use podzolic lands in agricultural work, but only after careful processing: they constantly regulate the water regime and “feed” the land with all sorts of fertilizers.


Sand is a "former" rock. It is made up of the purest quartz. Sandy soil is a loose mixture consisting of grains from 0.10 to 5 millimeters. It was formed from the destroyed rock hard rocks. Sands can be of various origins: deluvial, alluvial, lacustrine, eolian, marine. The sand, which arose as a result of the activity of channels of a different nature, has a more round, run-in shape. Sandy soil characteristic of semi-deserts and deserts. This is a granular and lush soil devoid of special coherence.

Sand is easily exposed to various forms of erosion and practically does not hold moisture and nutritious, useful elements. Like any other soil, it still has its positive characteristics. For example, it is not subject to swamping, because due to the coarse-grained structure, water easily passes through it, air enters the roots of plants in the required volume, and rot does not survive here at all.


But quicksand is the most dangerous place on our planet.


Everyone has heard about them, but almost no one can tell how it works. The sun dries out the top layer of sandy soil, resulting in a very hard crust, but at the same time extremely thin to notice, which is masked by the grass that has grown over it. The illusion of safety in this area instantly evaporates after the very first step - the ground instantly floats and the poor fellow begins to suck in the "trap". A person's legs are squeezed by a solid mass, and it is not realistic to pull them out on their own. In principle, in itself this place will not kill a person, because it will not be able to completely suck him in. But dehydration, various solar influences, and various living creatures will help in solving this “problem”. Quicksand is shrouded in many theories, but mostly they are all wrong. Over time, it was possible to find out the properties of wet and dried sand and solve the mystery. Wet sand sticks together easily, demonstrating tremendous traction. In order for the grains of sand to stick together, water must cover them with the thinnest chaff, but, nevertheless, oxygen should prevail between them. If you continue to fill the air with liquid, then the incredible force of adhesion will disappear and you get the usual mixture of sand and water, which has the opposite properties. Quicksand is the most common sandy soil, under the thickness of which there is the strongest source of water.


The most fertile type of soil is chernozem, which mainly prevails in Ukrainian territories. Humus in it is at least 15%, it is characteristic of climates where positive temperatures prevail, and wet and dry periods of weather alternate with each other, mainly in the temperate zone. This soil was formed over many, many years under the favorable influence of the soil-forming rock, the favorable climate and grassy vegetation. Chernozem is characterized by very high air and water characteristics. It is extremely rich in various macro and microelements, which are so necessary for the prosperous life of the flora.


It is difficult to overestimate the importance and role of the soil, because it is an indispensable part of the planet, which ensures the vital activity of flora and fauna.

Earth is a very interesting planet. The fact that it consists of 70% water is known to almost everyone, but that ... Below is a list of ten interesting facts about the planet Earth, which you most likely did not even know.

Our planet is the only one in the solar system that has tectonic plates. This fact proves that the Earth has a liquid core.

The earth's crust contains approximately 47% oxygen by mass.

The earth has two poles - at the bottom and at the top. This fact means that our planet is a huge magnet.

An Earth day consists of 24 hours. But in fact, a day lasts 23 hours 56 minutes and 4 seconds - the time it takes the planet to make one full rotation around its axis.

Planet Earth is the only planet in the solar system on which water is represented in all its states - gaseous, liquid and solid.

The coldest place on Earth, in the East of the planet (Antarctica), and the warmest is the city of El Azizia (in Libya).

Scientists say that a few million years ago, the Earth's day lasted about 20 hours. A few more million years will pass, and the day will consist of 27 hours.

Did you know that on July 21, 1983, the lowest temperature on Earth was recorded - the record was minus 89.2 degrees Celsius (minus 128.6 degrees F). This temperature was recorded by Soviet scientists at the Vostok station.

Another interesting fact about the planet Earth is that, in fact, a full calendar year is 365.2564 Earth days. Thanks to the figure 0.2564, every four years, in February, instead of 28 days - 29, this particular year is called a leap year.

Every day we eat various foodstuffs, wear clothes and use the items and means we need, while not at all thinking about where and how all this appeared and became possible. But our life largely depends on the land cover under our feet, which was created by nature not even for centuries, but for millennia.


The soil is a wealth given to us by nature, it is thanks to it that man and the animal world are provided with food, and industry, which is increasingly developing in various areas, with raw materials. Therefore, it is very important to know the properties of the soil and use this resource correctly so that future generations of all life on Earth do not die.

Do you know how it appeared?

One of the interesting facts about this unique substance called soil is its very origin. Initially, the surface of the Earth was only a bare stone desert. But over time, the winds destroyed solid rocks, turning them into tiny particles, which became the basis for the appearance of soil. Due to changes in temperature, cracks formed in the rocks, and they were destroyed, and the remains were carried by water and wind. Then the first plants appeared right on the rocks, which from generation to generation grew and died. The remains of these plants mixed with mineral particles, forming a new living substance, which is eventually called soil.

Its properties and functions are far from banal!

It is unlikely that when walking on the ground, any of us thinks about the processes taking place inside this colossal organism. The soil, in fact, is a natural laboratory for processing the remains of the animal and plant worlds. At the same time, its fertility only increases, and the resulting minerals feed other plants. This is precisely the main purpose of the soil, to process and transfer in itself all the necessary and useful elements for the development of flora and fauna.

The basis of the soil are clay, sand and silt. Therefore, its properties directly depend on the content of this or that, in greater or lesser quantities. For example, if there is a lot of silt in the soil, then it is more fertile, if it is sandy soil, then stagnation of water is not terrible, which cannot be said about clay soil, but sandy soil quickly freezes in sub-zero temperatures. Perhaps, knowing these facts about the soil, you can use it more carefully and rationally.


What do you think, what directly affects the quality of the soil? So, trees play an important role in the structure and formation of useful soil, and it is hardwood. Deciduous trees enrich the soil with nitrogen, ash, humus, creating the right environment for microflora. But conifers, on the contrary, have a negative impact, because. contribute to the formation of podzolic soils.

Soil, sometimes like a natural trap

Most likely, many have heard of such a phenomenon as quicksand which are quite dangerous to humans. They are obtained as a result of the fact that the top layer of sand is absolutely dried by the sun, the hard crust formed on the surface is extremely thin, and the grass makes it completely invisible.


A person who steps on such a piece of ground immediately falls through and is sucked in by a kind of sand trap. True, it will not completely suck in, but it will still not be possible to get out on its own. An interesting fact is that this rather dangerous natural phenomenon is formed due to the properties of dry and wet sand. Wet sand sticks together perfectly, as the water covers the grains of sand with a thin chaff, but the main thing is the presence of oxygen. If you displace oxygen with water, then the adhesion will disappear. Under a thick layer of sand there is always a powerful water source, this explains the appearance of quicksand.

The soil is the guarantor of our existence

Another incredibly important point is that the soil also serves carbon storage, about 75% and is in second place after the oceans. This undeniably essential ability of soil to store carbon prevents it from escaping into the atmosphere, mitigates climate change, and increases resilience to drought and floods.

A healthy earth guarantees us food security on the planet. Due to the fact that it is the soil that gives plants everything they need, our task is to treat it carefully so as not to interrupt the food chain and not die of starvation. Healthy soil, the basis of healthy food.

You may be surprised, but the largest water filter is also the soil. Thousands of cubic kilometers of water are filtered through it every year. The soil traps toxins and the water returns to the ocean less polluted. At the same time, the waters falling on asphalt roads carry with them all the garbage and dirt of the environment, only exacerbating the problem of environmental safety of the oceans and seas. The soil cover absorbs magnesium, potassium, calcium and other nutrients from the water that enters it, and gives them to plants.


Did you know that microorganisms living in the soil are used in medicine, for example, to make antibiotics? Thanks to her, we have drugs such as streptomycin, the first active antibiotic to fight tuberculosis and plague. For example, the drug cyclosporine is prescribed to a patient in order to prevent rejection during tissue or organ transplantation.

A variety of facts about our planet.

1. Such different colors of the sky

Auroras occur when charged particles that emanate from the Sun reach our planet's magnetic field and are destroyed in the upper atmosphere near the poles. Particles become more active during the period of maximum activity of the Sun, which occurs cyclically every 11 years. Near the south pole, the aurora is less likely to be observed by people due to the fact that they rarely appear off the coast of Antarctica.

2. There are other planets like ours

Scientists suggest that there are many planets in the universe similar to ours. Evidence has been found that planets like Earth orbit distant stars. For example, a planet called Kepler 22-b orbits a star at the same distance from it as our planet from the Sun, which indicates that this planet may have favorable conditions for life. Although whether there is life on these planets is still a subject of controversy in the scientific world.

3. Who made it to the south pole?

The first person to successfully cross the Antarctic Desert to reach the South Pole was Norwegian Roald Amundsen. He and 4 other people with the help of a sleigh pulled by dogs reached the Pole in December 1911. Amundsen said that he was lucky due to careful planning.

4. The driest place

The driest place on the planet where people sometimes appear is the Atacama Desert in Chile and Peru. There are places in the middle of this desert where no rain has ever been recorded. Although in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica, rain has not been observed for millions of years.

5. Open spaces

People who sometimes like to be alone are advised to go to Greenland. This island has the lowest population density on Earth. So in 2010, only 56,534 people lived on an area of ​​​​2,166,086 square kilometers. Most of the inhabitants of Greenland can be found along the coast.

6. Most populous city

Don't like densely populated cities? Then we do not advise you to go to Manila. This city - the capital of the Philippines - is the most densely populated city on the planet, where most of the country's population is forced to huddle on a relatively small piece of land. According to the 2007 census, there were 1,660,714 people per 38.55 square kilometers!

7. The tiniest mammal

A large number of tiny creatures live on Earth, the body of some of them consists of only one cell. But the smallest animal-mammal can be called a pig-nosed bat. This vulnerable bat species lives in southeast Asia. The mouse reaches a length of about 3-3.3 centimeters and weighs about 2 grams. This bat can compete with the pygmy multitooth, which is about the same size.

8. The largest organisms

The largest organisms on the planet can be called, oddly enough, mushrooms. Most of the mushroom organism is hidden underground. In 1992, scientists reported in the journal Nature that honey agaric in Oregon covered an area of ​​0.89 hectares.

9 Breathing Giants

When we think of the largest living creatures on the planet, whales and elephants come to mind. The giant sequoia 'General Sherman' is the largest tree on the planet by volume and grows in Sequoia National Park, California. The tree trunk contains 1486.6 cubic meters of material.

10. The largest pool

The largest ocean basin on the planet is considered to be the Pacific Ocean, which covers an area of ​​155 million square kilometers and contains more than half of all water on Earth. It is so big that all the continents could fit in the same area.

11. Populated coastlines

Coastlines cover just 20 percent of the US, not including Alaska, and are home to over 50 percent of Americans, meaning most prefer to live by the sea.

12. The most powerful volcanic eruption

The most powerful eruption ever witnessed by a man occurred in April 1815 on Mount Tambora, in Indonesia. On the VEI scale, this eruption reached 7 points, and the highest point on the scale is the number 8. According to eyewitnesses, the eruption was so powerful that the sounds of a rumbling volcano could be heard even on the island of Sumatra, 1930 kilometers away. The eruption claimed the lives of about 71 thousand people, puffs of black smoke could be observed on islands located quite far from the volcano.

13. The most active volcano

The most active volcano can be called the Stromboli volcano, which is located on a volcanic island in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Italy. Over the past 20 thousand years, the volcano has erupted almost constantly. In the dark, thanks to the lava illumination, the volcano can be seen from the sea, which is why it is sometimes called the "Lighthouse of the Mediterranean".

14. Formation of mountains

Although the moving layers of rock, which are called tectonic plates, are hidden from our eyes, we can see the results of their movement on the surface of the planet. Between India and Tibet are the Himalayas, which stretch for a distance of 2900 kilometers. This long mountain range formed between 40 and 50 million years ago when India and Eurasia joined due to plate movement.

15. Supercontinent

It is believed that over the 4.5 billion years of the existence of our planet, the continents of the Earth once joined to become a single continent, and then separated again. The most recent unified continent was Pangea, which began to separate into its component parts about 200 million years ago. Scientists suggest that in the future the continents will come together again.

16. Formation of the Moon

Many researchers believe that some large objects collided with the Earth long ago, as a result of which a fragment broke off from the planet, from which the Moon later formed. It is not yet clear whether this object was another planet, an asteroid or a comet, but some scientists suggest that the Mars-sized planet Theia was the culprit.

17. Distance to a star

The Earth is about 150 million kilometers from the Sun. In order to reach the surface of our planet, sunlight takes 8 minutes 19 seconds.

18. Space dust

Every day, cosmic dust falls on the surface of our planet: approximately 100 tons of interplanetary material (mostly in the form of dust). The smallest particles are released by comets when their ice begins to evaporate as they approach the Sun.

19. The wealth of our planet

The largest seas of the planet contain more than 20 million tons of gold, but getting it is not so easy. Gold is so dissolved in sea water that in each liter, on average, only 13 billionth of a gram of gold can be found. Gold in undissolved form is hidden deep in the depths of the rock, at the bottom of the ocean, so it is not yet possible to extract it. But if that were to happen, every person on the planet could be a potential owner of 4.5 kilograms of the precious metal, but would it still be precious?

20. Water world

The oceans cover about 70 percent of the earth's surface, but humans have explored only 5 percent so far. The remaining 95 percent of the ocean has never been seen by man.

21. Natural electricity

Thunder and lightning are one of the most terrible phenomena of nature. Just one lightning strike can heat the air to about 30,000 degrees Celsius, which causes the air to expand greatly and create an explosive wave, as well as a great rumble, which we call thunder.

22. She was purple

The Earth was once purple, although today it has changed color to green, suggests hil DasSarma, a microbial geneticist at the University of Maryland. Ancient microbes, he says, could use other molecules than chlorophyll to harness the sun's rays. Such molecules could give them a purple hue.

Dassarma believes that chlorophyll came after another light-sensitive molecule called retinal, which already existed on the young planet. Retinal today can be found on the plum-colored membranes of the photosynthetic halobacterium microbe, it absorbs green light and reflects red and purple, and when they mix, violet light is produced.

23. Measuring the age of glaciers

People leave their marks on the planet in many ways. For example, nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s resulted in the release of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which eventually fell out with rain and snow. These sediments settled in glaciers, where they formed layers that scientists are trying to figure out the age of the ice.

24. Loss of water

With climate change, glaciers are losing ice, causing sea levels to rise. As it turned out, if one single glacier melts, it will raise the amount of melt water by 10 percent. The Canadian glacier between 2004 and 2009 had already lost a lot of ice, which turned into water equal to 75 percent of Lake Erie by volume.

25. Explosion of lakes

Lakes can also explode. In Cameroon, on the border with Rwana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are 3 threatening lakes: Nyos, Monoun and Kivu. All these lakes are crater lakes, they are located on the top of the volcano. The magma below their surface releases carbon dioxide, which accumulates in layers under the lake bed. If carbon dioxide breaks free, anyone in the vicinity will have nothing to breathe.

26. The lowest point on land

The lowest point on land can be easily reached. This is the Dead Sea, located between Jordan and Israel. The water level is 423 meters below sea level, and it continues to fall by about 1 meter per year.

27. Deepest Point

How deep into the bowels of the Earth can a person get? The deepest point on the planet is the Mariana Trench, which is 10,916 meters below sea level. The deepest point on the planet that is not covered by an ocean is at a depth of 2555 meters below sea level, but it can hardly be reached. This is the Bentley Trench, in Antarctica, which is filled with a thick layer of ice.

28. The richest ecosystems

Coral reefs attract the largest number of living creatures per unit area than any other ecosystem on the planet. Only tropical forests can compete with them. The reefs are made up of tiny coral polyps that build calcareous structures. They are the largest living structures on the planet that can be seen even from space. Unfortunately, due to the deteriorating ecology and climate change, coral reefs are dying faster and faster.

29. The longest mountain range

If you wanted to see the longest mountain range, you would have to go deep underwater. Underwater chains stretch for a distance of 65 thousand kilometers - this is a chain of underwater volcanoes that encircles the Earth. Lava erupts at the bottom of the oceans, forming seamounts.

30. Conquest of the peaks

On May 8, 1978, Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, together with Peter Habeler, conquered the summit of Everest by climbing to the highest point on the planet without the use of oxygen.

31. Stones can walk

Rocks can move on the surface of the planet, at least on the surface of the dry Lake Racetrack Playa, in Death Valley, California. Sometimes the wind can move stones weighing tens and even hundreds of kilograms. Most likely, the clay surface of the plateau becomes more slippery when snow melts in the nearby mountains. This allows the wind to push and move the rocks across the surface.

32. Earth Might Have Another Moon

Some scientists claim that the Earth has one more satellite besides the Moon. According to research, the results of which were published at the end of last year in the journal ICARUS, a cosmic body with a size of at least 1 meter rotates in Earth's orbit at any time. That is, it is not always the same body, but the so-called "temporary moons", scientists say. According to their theory, the Earth's gravitational field can capture asteroids that fly near our planet, revolving around the Sun. When such an asteroid approaches the Earth, it begins to rotate around it and makes 3 revolutions, remaining in orbit for about 9 months, and then moves away again.

33. Two Moons?

Once the Earth had two large satellites - two moons. The second satellite with a diameter of about 1200 kilometers, according to scientists, revolved around our planet until it collided with the moon. This catastrophe may explain why the two sides of the modern moon are so different from each other.

34. Changing the direction of the magnetic field

Over the past 20 million years, on our planet, every 200-300 thousand years, there has been a change in the direction of the magnetic field, although this process does not have a particular periodicity. Change cannot happen in the blink of an eye. This process takes hundreds and thousands of years.

35. The highest mountains

Mount Everest or, as it is also called, Chomolungma, is the highest mountain. Its peak is located at an altitude of 8848 meters above sea level. However, if you measure the mountain from its very base to the top, it reaches 17170 meters.

36. Magnetic field

The Earth has a magnetic field thanks to the ocean of hot and liquid metal that is concentrated around its solid iron core. This flow of liquid metal creates an electric current, which in turn creates a magnetic field. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Earth's magnetic north pole has moved 1,100 kilometers north, according to NASA researchers. The speed of movement is increasing, while at the present time the north pole is moving at a speed of 64 kilometers per year. In the 20th century, he moved at a speed of 16 km / year.

37. Strange Gravity

Due to the fact that our planet is not a perfect ball, its mass is distributed unevenly. Fluctuations in mass cause fluctuations in gravity. One example of anomalous gravity is Hudson Bay in Canada. In this area, gravity is lower than in other places on the planet. In 2007, scientists discovered that melting glaciers were to blame. The ice that covered this area during the last ice age melted, but the planet did not have time to recover from this burden.

38. The largest stalagmite

The world's largest stalagmite was found in Cuba. This formation has a height of 67.2 meters.

39. Extreme Continent

The southernmost continent - Antarctica is the very edge of the Earth. The Antarctic ice cap contains 70 percent of the planet's fresh water and 90 percent of the world's ice.

40. The coldest point

It won't come as a big surprise to learn that the coldest place on the planet is in Antarctica. However, the thermometer of the thermometer there drops to an unprecedented value. In winter, temperatures can reach minus 73 degrees Celsius. But the most extremely low temperature was recorded on July 21, 1983 at the Russian Vostok station and amounted to minus 89.2 degrees Celsius.

41. The hottest place

The hottest place on the planet is Libya, where the thermometer showed 57.8 degrees Celsius above zero in September 1922. It is possible that there are hotter spots somewhere in the desert, but they are outside the observation stations.

42. The strongest earthquake

The strongest earthquake that was observed in the United States was a 9.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Alaska on March 28, 1964. But the most powerful earthquake recorded by modern seismologists is the earthquake in Chile, which occurred on May 22, 1960. Its power was 9.5 points.

43. Moonquakes

Moonquakes or "earthquakes on the moon" also happen occasionally, but not as often and not with the same intensity as on Earth. Scientists believe that moonquakes are related to the tidal forces of the Sun and Earth, as well as some other reasons. Moonquakes can occur at great depths between the surface of the moon and its center.

44. Age of the Earth

Scientists have calculated the age of the Earth by examining the oldest rocks and meteorites that have been discovered on the planet. Meteorites and the Earth were formed at about the same time when the solar system was formed. According to scientists, the Earth is already 4.54 billion years old.

45. Movement of rocks

The ground we walk on is made from recycled materials. During certain cycles, volcanic rocks turn into sedimentary rocks, and then metamorphic rocks, and all over again. This cycle is not perfect: magma from the bowels of the earth rises and cools and turns into volcanic rock. Tectonic processes lift the rock to the surface, where erosion destroys it. Tiny fragments fold and pressure compresses them and turns them into sedimentary rock, such as sandstone. If sedimentary rocks accumulate even deeper, they can turn into metamorphic rocks under high pressure and high temperature. During the process, sedimentary rocks can collapse and metamorphic rocks rise higher. But if the metamorphic rocks move deeper along the faults as one of the layers is pushed by the other, those rocks will eventually become magma again, and the process will repeat itself.

46. ​​Journey around the Sun

The Earth rotates around its axis, and also moves around the Sun at a crazy, by our standards, speed - 107,826 kilometers per hour.

47. On the move

It seems to you that you are standing still, but in fact you are moving very quickly. Depending on which part of the Earth you are in, you will move at different speeds. The fastest moving people are those who are at the equator.

48. The planet has a waist

Mother Earth has a waist - the length of her circumference is 40,075 kilometers.

49. Flattened shape

The earth is irregular. In the process of rotation, gravity is directed towards the center of the planet, and the centrifugal force goes to the side. Due to rotation, a bulge is created at the planet's equator, so the equatorial diameter is larger than the diameter between the poles by 43 kilometers.

50. Third planet

Our home planet Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only planet in the solar system that has conditions, a free oxygen atmosphere, oceans of liquid water on the surface, and, most importantly, life.

Children raised by animals

10 mysteries of the world that science has finally revealed

In Brazil, a live fish more than a meter long was pulled out of a patient

The elusive Afghan "vampire deer"