Features of The Earth | GK Olympiad for Class 6 PDF Download

Earth is our home planet. Scientists believe Earth and its Moon were formed around the same time as the rest of the solar system. They think that was about 4.5 billion years ago, Earth is the fifth-largest planet in the solar system. Its diameter is about 8,000 miles, and Earth is the third-closest planet to the Sun. Its average distance from the Sun is about 93 million miles.

Structure of the earth’s interior

Crust

• It is the outermost solid part of the Earth, normally about 8-40 kms thick.
• It is brittle in nature.
• Nearly 1% of the Earth’s volume and 0.5% of Earth’s mass are made of the crust.

Mantle

• The portion of the interior beyond the crust is called the mantle.
• The mantle is about 2900kms in thickness.
• Nearly 84% of the Earth’s volume and 67% of the Earth’s mass is occupied by the mantle.

Core

• It is the innermost layer surrounding the Earth’s centre.
• The core consists of two sub-layers: the inner core and the outer core.
• The inner core is in solid state and the outer core is in the liquid state (or semi-liquid).

Earth's Movements

• Earth’s movement around the Sun is known as revolution, while the movement on its own axis is rotation.
• It takes 365 days for 1 revolution and 24 hours for 1 rotation.
• These two movements together influence temperature, weather and seasons    on Earth.
• The Earth rotates in anti-clockwise direction, from west to east, on its    own axis    on imaginary line.
• Earth experiences day and night due to the rotation of the Earth.
• Earth revolves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit.
• Revolution causes seasons to occur.
• Earth is tilted at an angle of 23.5°. Therefore, one part of the Earth leans towards the Sun and another part remains hidden.