There are probably a lot of things you know about planet earth. For instance, you may know that the earth is a blue planet or that it orbits around the sun. But did you know that the earth might have another moon or that it isn’t perfectly round? Well, we are about to shock you with these are more of such facts.
Let’s get to know 5 little-known fascinating facts about planet earth.
The moon might be a chunk of the earth
It easy to believe that the moon has always been separate from the earth but that might not be the case. Scientists believe that the early earth was all alone in its path around the sun until it collided with a gigantic space rock named Theia. As a result, a huge chunk of the earth broke away and later became our satellite which we now know as the moon. This happened 4 billion years ago when the earth was still very young.
Earth isn’t perfectly round
You might have seen pictures of a perfectly round earth in space and thought that was truly the shape of the earth. However, the earth is not a perfectly round sphere. It’s more like an irregular sphere somewhat like how your head is shaped. So, it’s mass is irregular and differs in various places. Due to these irregularities, there are different degrees of gravity on various parts of the planet.
Earth had and still might have another moon
According to research, a celestial body smaller than the moon orbited the earth just like a second moon. It probably crashed into our present moon later on. This collision could explain why the two sides of the moon look so different from each other – one side is disfigured and rough. Scientists also believe that one day earth might get another satellite.
There are moonquakes on the moon
Just like our planet in which earthquakes happen occasionally, there are moonquakes on the moon. Moonquakes are not something from science fiction; they actually happen. They are not as frequent as the quakes on earth but they are much deeper and closer to the centre of the moon – somewhere halfway between the surface and the core. Scientists believe this is due to thee gravitational force between the earth and the moon.
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Our Planet is covered in gold
Did you know that about 20 million tons of gold can be found inside our very own planet and seas?! The quantity is so much that if the gold could be extracted, it would be enough to cover the entire surface of the earth in a 2-foot layer of gold. And if we gave everyone an equal piece, each of earth’s inhabitants would get 9 pounds of gold! The only reason why people have not dug up the gold yet is because it is extremely diluted and you can only get a gram of gold for every hundred million tons of seawater. If this was not the case, I guess we all would have more than 30 billion in our bank accounts by now!
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