EARTH AS A

PLANET
Earth, our home planet is the third planet from the sun and
the fifth largest planet in the solar system. It is the only
planet which supports life. From space, the earth looks blue
because 70 percent of its total area is covered by water.
Hence, it is also called the watery planet. The family of the
sun is called the solar system. The members of the solar
system are at a certain distance from the sun. The chief
members of the solar system are the planets, the satellites
that revolve around the planets and other celestial bodies
called asteroids, comets and meteorites the planets in order
of their distance from the sun are: Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH

The earth is not a perfect sphere. It bulges slightly at the
centre and is flattened at the poles. In the olden days, the
earth was considered to be a flat disc with steep edges.
Aryabhatta the fifth century Indian astronomer and
mathematician believed in the round shape of the earth. He
said that the earth was spherical in shape and rotated on its
axis. In the sixth century, Greek philosopher Pythagoras said
the same things. Today, we have convincing evidence to
prove that the earth is spherical in shape.

Proof that the earth is spherical in shape

Sighting of a ship:
While standing at sea shore, watching an approaching ship,
we first see only its mast. Then, as it comes closer, we can
see the deck the middle, then its funnel, and finally the hull
comes into full view. This can happen only when the earth’s
surface is curved. If the earth were flat, the entire ship
would have been visible at once.

The Bedford level experiment:

An experiment was carried out in the Bedford level canal
area in England. Three poles of equal length were fixed at
intervals of 5km. It was ensured that the poles had the
same height above the water in the canal. When the
poles were viewed from one end of the canal, the middle
pole looked slightly higher, it could not have happened if
the Earth had a flat surface. A similar experiment was
repeated at different places with same result, this
experiment demonstrated that the surface of the Earth
was curved.

Pole Star:
The pole star can be seen at an angle of 90° at the North
Pole. It lies in line with the axis of the earth, and its angle
decreases towards the Equator. At the Equator, the angle
is 0°. This can happen only in an arc of a circle. If the earth
were flat, the Pole Star would have the same height for
all latitudes.

Satellite pictures:
Jean Baptiste Delambre (1749-1822), the French
astronomer, discovered the flattening of earth at
poles. In the 20th century, when satellite pictures of
earth were fed into computers, its spherical shape
with the flattened poles was confirmed. The
conclusive evidence for the proof the earth’s
 spherical shape is obtained from the photographs
taken from space

Lunar Eclipse:
The shadow of earth on the surface of the moon is
clearly visible from earth during lunar eclipse. It
appears as an arc of a circle. Since the earth is bigger
than the moon, it is rarely oriented in the same
position as the moon but the shadow is always
circular.
Circular Horizon
The view of the earth’s surface as seen from a
height is circular. With increase in altitude the
circular horizon also widens. Had the earth’s
surface been flat the horizon would have been
the same irrespective of altitude.
In modern days, all radio waves that travel
over the earth’s surface can be heard only
within a certain horizon. This is because of the
spherical shape of the shape of the earth.

Sunrise and Sunset

The sun rises from the east and sets in the west.
Sunrise and sunset occurs at different times at
different places. This is because the earth
 rotates from west to east and therefore, people
in the east can see the sun earlier than those in
the west. Had the sun been flat, the sunrise and
sunset would have occurred at the same time all
over the world.

Circumnavigation
Magellan’s ship Victoria completed a round-the-
world voyage in 1522. His ship returned to the
same place from where it had started (Spain). It
proved beyond doubt that the earth’s surface is
round.

The Earth as a Heavenly Body

The earth belongs to the solar system. All
planets in this system are spherical in shape. It
is because of their continuous rotation. So the earth
being the member of the Solar system cannot be an
exception.

THE EARTH AS A PLANET

Earth, as a planet, is a spherical object in space that
moves around the sun (a star) and receives light
from it. The planets do not have light of their own.
 They move around their stars in fixed paths called
orbits.
Earth an Oblate Spheroid
The earth is said to be spherical; but it is not a
perfect sphere. Its diameter varies at the equator
and at the poles. Its diameter at the equator is
12,756km while its polar diameter is 12,714km. This
difference in diameter is due to the centrifugal force
of earth’s rotation at a great speed which forms a
bulge at the equator and a compression at the poles.
Thus, the earth is said to be an Oblate Spheroid. The
shape of the earth is also described as Geoid, which
means Earth Shaped.

EARTH AS THE HOME OF

HUMANKIND
Our earth is the only planet that supports life. Unlike
other planets, it is covered with green vegetation
enormous blue green oceans containing over a
million islands, a large number of streams and rivers,
huge lands masses called continents with mountains,
ice caps and deserts. Some form of life thrives
virtually in every part of the earth-from the coldest
part of the poles to the warmest part of the equator.
 Earth has certain features that make it habitable and
thus, a unique planet.

Distance from the Sun

The earth is at an optimum distance from the sun. Hence,
it is neither too hot nor too cold.
The distance between the earth and the sun makes life
possible on the earth. If it was closer to the sun, any
life present would get burnt from too much heat of
the sun. If it was further from the sun life would
freeze because of lack of heat.

Temperature
The earth is the third planet from the sun. It has an
average temperature of 17° C which is suitable for life to
exist.
If the average temperature on the earth’s surface
changes by only few degrees, many species would perish
due to extreme heat or cold.
The other two terrestrial planets, Mercury and Venus are
very hot with maximum temperatures of 400° C. the
remaining planets in the solar system are very cold with
surface temperature below 0°C.
Venus is the second planet from the sun but it is hooter
than Mercury. This is because the atmosphere around
Venus is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. The carbon
dioxide produces Greenhouse effect on the surface of
Venus. Thus, the temperature on its surface remains very
high. The earth’s atmosphere contains a very small
quantity of carbon dioxide.

Atmosphere
Atmosphere is the layer of the air around the earth. It is a
mixture of gases like nitrogen (78%), Oxygen (21%),
carbon dioxide, helium and Argon (Less than 1%).

The atmosphere receives heat from the sun by solar

radiation and loses heat by earth’s radiation. In this way
a balance is maintained.

The earth’s atmosphere is made up of life supporting

gases like nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide. Other
gases include helium and argon.

Ozone present in the earth’s atmosphere absorbs the

harmful ultraviolent rays of the sun.

The atmosphere also prevents loss of heat from the

earth’s surface and helps to keep the earth warm.

Water
Earth is a watery planet with 70% of the earth’s surface
being covered by water.

Distribution of water is responsible for moderating the

climate and surface condition of the earth.

The self regulating and self sustaining structural and

functional unit of the biosphere is called the ECOSYSTEM.
This system depends upon the sun for its energy. A pond,
a lake desert, grassland, meadow, forests are command
examples of ecosystems.

There is an exchange of materials and energy within the

Ecosystem as well as between adjoining ecosystems.
They are all interconnected and hence interrelated. The
vast network of all interconnected ecosystem constitute
the BIOSPHERE.
Thus, biosphere is the part of the earth’s terrestrial
system – including air, land and water – in which life
develops and where life processes in turn get
transformed. It is the life zone of earth.
Water from the seas, rivers and lakes evaporates into the
atmosphere where it condenses and falls back as
precipitation. Most of the water on land flows back to
the oceans. Thus, water moves in a continuous cycle –
the hydrological cycle. There is a proper balance between
evaporation condensation and precipitation without
which life would not be possible.

Water can absorb enormous amount of heat without

causing much change in its temperature. During the day,
water bodies rapidly absorb enormous amount of heat:
thus, the earth remains fairly cool. At night, the water
bodies release vast amount of heat that they absorbed
during the day, which along with other atmospheric
effects, keep most of the surface from freezing at night.
But for the tremendous amount of water on the earth,
far great day and night temperature variations would
exist.

Solid Crust (Lithosphere)

Earth has a solid crust (Lithosphere). Due to the
weathering of the rocks, the surface of the earth has
been formed, which provides soil layer essential for
supporting plant life. Soil also provides various nutrients
necessary for the growth of plants, which in turn support
all forms of animal life directly or indirectly.

Biosphere
Biosphere is the narrow realm of contact and
interaction between the atmosphere, lithosphere and
hydrosphere.
Biosphere provides all the necessities for all the
species living on earth, i.e., light, heat, water, food and
habitats.
Biosphere is the thin layer of approximately 15km
from the deepest ocean trench to the highest mountain
peak. At the ground level, it extends to a depth of just 3
m below and in ocean waters about 200 m deep, where
marine and freshwater life found.
 Within the biosphere, life is found chiefly in two
forms -- the plant kingdom and animal kingdom.

Life-Giving Cycles
Various life-giving cycles operate in nature, balancing the
factors necessary for life.
Nutrition cycle: The nutrition cycle represents a
relationship between ling and non-living things in our
environment. It shows the interdependence of all living
beings on earth. It operates through the food chain and
other processes like photosynthesis, transpiration,
respiration etc. The living things are divided into
producers, consumers, and decomposers. Plants are the
producers of food through a process of photosynthesis.
Energy has its origin from here. Then there are categories
of consumers (herbivores and carnivores) who live on the
producers. At the top of all is man who can modify his
own environment and create changes at the bottom or in
the middle level of the food chain. All living beings
undergo decomposition by the action of saprotrophs or
decomposers.
Carbon-Cycle: Carbon is the basic raw material of all life.
All living beings contain carbon. Atmospheric carbon
dioxide is used by plants in the presence of sunlight and
chlorophyll to make their own food by the process of
photosynthesis. During this process CO2 is fixed as starch
by plants. From the plants, carbon moves along the food
chain through consumers at different levels. After the
death of plants and animals, the carbon present in their
bodies is decomposed absorbed as food by saprophytic
bacteria and fungi. When plants die and get buried in the
soil, they undergo slow degradation and compaction.
This results in the formation of fossil fuels containing
huge amounts of carbon.
During respiration, plants, animals and humans, use
atmospheric oxygen and release carbon dioxide back into
the atmosphere. The burning of carbon containing fuels
also results in release of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Thus, carbon from CO2 taken by green plants from the
environment through respiration, decomposition and
through burning of fuels. This cyclic movement of carbon
from the atmosphere to the organisms to the
atmosphere is known as carbon cycle. The carbon cycle
helps in maintaining carbon balance in nature.
Any imbalance of carbon in the atmosphere heats up the
earth and leads to Global Warming. Excessive use of
gases that produce undue heat and global warming has
to be avoided to maintain a healthy atmosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle: Atmosphere is the largest reservoir (78%
approximately) of free nitrogen. Plants take nitrogen in
the form of nitrates from the soil and it moves through
the food chain to animals. Nitrogen is returned to the soil
through manure, excreta and earthly remains of plants
and animals, and micro-organisms.
Oxygen Cycle: Living things take in oxygen from the
atmosphere. They use it to release energy from the food
they eat. Oxygen is also used together with carbon,
hydrogen and nitrogen to build new molecules in their
bodies. Oxygen is released back into the atmosphere by
green plants during photosynthesis and by plants and
animals as part of carbon dioxide.
These cycles are nature’s mechanism to maintain balance
in the ecosystem.