The Peculiarities

of Earth
Earth's Location
Our home planet is the third planet from
the Sun, and the main spot we are aware
of so far that is possessed by living things.
While Earth is unquestionably the fifth
biggest planet in the planetary group, it is
the main world in our nearby planet group
with fluid water on a superficial level. Just
marginally bigger than neighboring Venus,
Earth is the greatest of the four planets
nearest to the Sun, which are all made of
rock and metal.

Earth's Atmosphere
The atmosphere is the gaseous layer
that envelopes the Earth. It regulates the
planet's surface temperature. Most of
the element that makes up the
atmosphere is nitrogen (about 78%).

Earth's Size and Mass

The radius of Earth at the equator is 3,963 miles
(6,378 kilometers), according to NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
However, Earth is not quite a sphere. The planet's
rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth's
polar radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km) — a
difference of 13 miles (22 km).
Using those measurements, the equatorial circumference of Earth is
about 24,901 miles (40,075 km). However, from pole to pole — the
meridional circumference — Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km)
around. Our planet's shape, caused by the flattening at the poles, is called
an oblate spheroid.

Earth's Magnetic Field

Earth's magnetic field (and the surface
magnetic field) is approximately a
magnetic dipole, with the magnetic field S
pole near the Earth's geographic north
pole (see Magnetic North Pole) and the
other magnetic field N pole near the
Earth's geographic south pole (see
Magnetic South Pole). This makes the
compass usable for navigation. The cause of the field can be explained by
dynamo theory. A magnetic field extends infinitely, though it weakens with
distance from its source. The Earth's magnetic field also called the
geomagnetic field, which effectively extends several tens of thousands of
kilometers into space, forms the Earth's magnetosphere. A paleomagnetic
study of Australian red dacite and pillow basalt has estimated the magnetic
field to be at least 3.5 billion years old