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Shape of The Earth

The Earth is a unique planet for three key reasons: 1) It is the only planet known to support life, with an abundance of liquid water covering about 74% of its surface. 2) It has a atmosphere composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide that sustains life. 3) Factors like its distance from the Sun, the presence of water and solid crust have created environmental conditions suitable for life to evolve and thrive. The Earth's shape was also proven to be spherical.

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483 views2 pages

Shape of The Earth

The Earth is a unique planet for three key reasons: 1) It is the only planet known to support life, with an abundance of liquid water covering about 74% of its surface. 2) It has a atmosphere composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide that sustains life. 3) Factors like its distance from the Sun, the presence of water and solid crust have created environmental conditions suitable for life to evolve and thrive. The Earth's shape was also proven to be spherical.

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Jk Kk
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Why is the Earth called a unique planet in the Solar System ?

It is situated at a distance of about 150 million kilometres from the sun. The orbit of the earth around
the sun lies between those of Venus and Mars.
Why is the Earth called a unique planet ?
According to Wikipedia, Earth is the only planet in the Solar System that has a large amount of liquid
water. About 74% of the surface of Earth is covered by liquid or frozen water.
Because of this, people sometimes call it the blue planet. Because of its water, Earth is home to millions
of species of plants and animals. The earth is one of the eight planets revolving around the sun.

Now, Let's discuss why is the earth called a unique planet in short or we can say three reasons why earth
is unique. They are as follow :-
 It is the only planet having life on it.
 It is a home to a large variety of life forms ranging from microscopic plants and animal
organisms to the largest of trees and animals
 It is the planet which has atmosphere. The living organisms inhabit not only the solid crust of the
earth but also they live in the oceans and atmosphere. In this article, we shall study the shape
and size of the earth and the conditions which are favourable for the evolution of life on earth.

Let’s discuss the factors that makes the Earth a unique planet in briefly.
SHAPE OF THE EARTH
In the olden days it was believed that the earth is flat. Due to this belief the sailors were afraid of
travelling to far-off places thinking that they would slip into the bottomless ocean from the edge of the
earth. The belief about the flat shape of the earth was changed through the work of ancient scholars like
Pythagoras, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Aryabhatta and Copernicus.
Pythagoras is believed to have been the first to hypothesize that the shape of the earth is spherical.
With the assumption of its spherical shape, Eratosthenes calculated the correct circumference of the
earth. Aristotle and Ptolemy also accepted the spherical shape of the earth. However, Ptolemy believed
that the earth was the centre of the universe and all the other heavenly objects, orbit around it.

This view of Ptolemy is called the geocentric theory (geo means earth). Copernicus, a Polish astronomer,
in 1543 published his famous book "On the Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies" wherein he stated that
the earth is round and rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. He thus gave the theory that the
sun is the centre of the solar system. This view of Copernicus is called heliocentric theory ( helio means
Sun). He stated that days and nights are caused by the rotation of the earth around the sun and not the
other round as was believed by early scholars.

Aryabhatta who lived many years before Copernicus had also stated that the earth has a spherical
shape. Columbus, an Italian sailor, was the first person to accept the idea of earth's spherical shape. He
suggested that one can reach the east by sailing west from Europe. He was proved correct when
Portuguese navigator Magellan's ship sailed back safely to Europe after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific and
Indian oceans, thus circling the entire earth.

The theory of spherical shape of the earth was thus proved beyond any doubt. Although the shape of
the earth is called spherical, the earth is not a perfect sphere. This is due to a slight bulge on the equator
and slight flattening at its poles. Due to this the earth is called an oblate sphere or a spheroid.

The earth is called a living planet. It is the only planet in the solar system with life on it. Life here makes
earth the most beautiful planet in the solar system. The earth enjoys a number of advantages over the
other planets like right temperature, presence of water and atmosphere because of which life has
evolved here.
The most important factors making life possible on earth are
(i) Right distance from the sun
-The distance of the earth from the sun is just right to maintain a moderate temperature here. The
earth situated at an average distance of about 150 million kilometres from the sun does not suffer
from effects of extremely high temperature as do Mercury and Venus.
Even a minor variation in the distance of the earth from the sun would have made earth either too cold
or too hot a planet thus precluding life here.

(ii) Presence of water


Abundance of water is also a unique feature of the earth. Water covers about 71% of the surface of the
earth. The water occurs not only in the oceans and seas but also on the continents.
While the oceans and seas contain water mostly in the liquid state, it occurs in both the liquid and the
solid states on the continents. Water in the liquid state on the continents occurs in water bodies like
rivers and lakes while in solid state it occurs in the form of snow and ice. Due to this the earth is called a
unique planet in the solar system. The vast polar ice sheets on the continents contain a very large
amount of water in the frozen or solid state. Besides the water in the oceans and on the continents, it
also occurs in the form of water vapour in the atmosphere.

(iii) Presence of atmosphere


The presence of atmosphere around the earth is perhaps the most important factor making its
environment suitable for living organisms.
Although a number of other planets also have atmosphere around them, they cannot sustain life
because the composition of their atmosphere is not suitable for living beings.
Therefore, it is the peculiar composition of the earth's atmosphere that makes earth a living planet.
The most important elements in the earth's atmosphere for making life possible are oxygen, nitrogen
and carbon dioxide.

(iv) Presence of solid crust (Lithosphere)


Lastly, but not the least, earth is a terrestrial planet, i.e., it has a solid crust. Weathering of the rocks
forming the surface of the earth provides soil layer which is essential for supporting plant life.
Soil provides not only anchorage to plants but also various nutrients necessary for their growth. Plants in
turn support all forms of animal life directly or indirectly.
The lithosphere is the source of all minerals. The minerals are very important for supporting the modern
human civilization. It has been seen that life on earth is sustained by the peculiar environmental
conditions found here.
All living beings on the earth need energy to live. The most important continuous source of energy in the
biosphere is the sun. The sun radiates energy in all directions in the form of light and heat rays.
It clears us that why is the earth called a unique planet.

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