Interesting Facts About Earth

You’ve lived on Planet Earth all your life, but how much do you really know about the ground underneath your feet? You probably have lots of interesting facts all about Earth rattling around your brain already, but here are 10 more interesting facts about Earth that you may, or may not know. You can also check out the following books from Amazon.com for more information:
Plate tectonics keep the planet comfortable
Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with plate tectonics. The outer crust of the Earth is broken up into regions known as tectonic plates. These are floating on top of the magma interior of the Earth and can move against one another. When two plates collide, one plate can go underneath another.
This process is very important. When microscopic plants in the ocean die, they fall to the bottom of the ocean. Over long periods of time, the remnants of this life, rich in carbon, are carried back into the interior of the Earth and recycled. This pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, which makes sure we don’t get a runaway greenhouse effect, like what happened on Venus.
Without the plate tectonics, there’d be no way to recycle this carbon, and the Earth would overheat.
Earth is almost a sphere
The Earth’s shape could be described as an oblate spheroid. It’s kind of like a sphere, but the Earth’s rotation causes the equator to bulge out . What this means is that the measurement from pole to pole is about 43 km less than the diameter of Earth across the equator.
Even though the tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, the feature that’s furthest from the center of the Earth is actually Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.
Earth is mostly iron, oxygen and silicon
If you could separate the Earth out into piles of material, you’d get 32.1 % iron, 30.1% oxygen, 15.1% silicon, and 13.9% magnesium. Of course, most of this iron is actually down at the core of the Earth. If you could actually get down and sample the core, it would be 88% iron. 47% of the Earth’s crust consists of oxygen.
70% of the Earth’s surface is covered in water
When astronauts first went into the space, they looked back at the Earth with human eyes for the first time, and called our home the Blue Planet. And it’s no surprise. 70% of our planet is covered with oceans. The remaining 30% is the solid ground, rising above sea level.
The Earth’s atmosphere extends out to 10,000 km
The atmosphere is thickest within the first 50 km or so, but it actually reaches out to about 10,000 km above the surface of the planet. This outermost layer of the atmosphere is called the exosphere, and starts about 500 km above the surface of the Earth. As we said, it goes all the way up to 10,000 km above the surface. At this point, free-moving particles can actually escape the pull of Earth’s gravity, and be blown away by the Sun’s solar wind.
But this high atmosphere is extremely thin. The bulk of the Earth’s atmosphere is down near the Earth itself. In fact, 75% of the Earth’s atmosphere is contained within the first 11 km above the planet’s surface.
The Earth’s molten iron core creates a magnetic field
The Earth is like a great big magnet, with poles at the top and bottom of the planet, near to the actual geographic poles. This magnetic field extends from the surface of the Earth out thousands of kilometers – a region called the magnetosphere.
Be grateful for the magnetosphere. Without it particles from the Sun’s solar wind would hit the Earth directly, exposing the surface of the planet to significant amounts of radiation. Instead, the magnetosphere channels the solar wind around the Earth, protecting us from harm.
Scientists think that the magnetic field is generated by the molten outer core of the Earth, where heat creates convection motions of conducting materials. This generates electric currents that create the magnetic field.
Earth doesn’t take 24 hours to rotate on its axis
It’s actually 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. This is the amount of time it takes for the Earth to completely rotate around its axis; astronomers call this a sidereal day. Now wait a second, that means a day is 4 minutes shorter than we think it is. You’d think that time would add up, day by day, and within a few months, day would be night, and night would be day.
Remember that the Earth orbits around the Sun. Every day, the Sun moves compared to the background stars by about 1° – about the size of the Moon in the sky. And so, if you add up that little motion from the Sun that we see because the Earth is orbiting around it, as well as the rotation on its axis, you get a total of 24 hours. Now that sounds like the day we know.
A year on Earth isn’t 365 days
It’s actually 365.2564 days. It’s this extra .2564 days that creates the need for leap years. That’s why we tack on an extra day in February every year divisible by 4 – 2004, 2008, etc – unless it’s divisible by 100 (1900, 2100, etc)… unless it’s divisible by 400 (1600, 2000, etc).
Earth has 1 moon and 2 co-orbital satellites
As you’re probably aware, Earth has 1 moon (The Moon). But did you know there are 2 additional asteroids locked into a co-orbital orbits with Earth? They’re called 3753 Cruithne and 2002 AA₂₉. We won’t go into too much detail about the Moon, I’m sure you’ve heard all about it.
3753 Cruithne is 5 km across, and sometimes called Earth’s second moon. It doesn’t actually orbit the Earth, but has a synchronized orbit with our home planet. It has an orbit that makes it look like it’s following the Earth in orbit, but it’s actually following its own, distinct path around the Sun.
2002 AA₂₉ is only 60 meters across, and makes a horseshoe orbit around the Earth that brings it close to the planet every 95 years. In about 600 years, it will appear to circle Earth in a quasi-satellite orbit. Scientists have suggested that it might make a good target for a space exploration mission.
Earth is the only planet known to have life
We’ve discovered past evidence of water on Mars, and the building blocks of life on Saturn’s moon Titan. We can see amino acids in nebulae in deep space. But Earth is the only place life has actually been discovered.
But if there’s life on other planets, scientists are building the experiments that will help find it. A new rover called the Mars Science Laboratory will be heading to Mars in the next few years, equipped with experiments that can detect life in the soil on the Red Planet. Giant radio dishes scan distant stars, listening for the characteristic signals of intelligent life reaching out across interstellar space. And new space telescopes, such as the European Space Agency’s Darwin mission might be powerful enough to sense the presence of life on other worlds.
But for now, Earth is the only place we know where there’s life. Now that is an interesting fact.
I hope you enjoyed these 10 interesting facts about planet Earth.

Top 10 Countries with Highest PopulationTop 10 Countries with Highest Population

Here is the list of world's top 10 countries with highest population. These highly populated countries are listed
in order of their population rank.

Highest Populated Countries

Country	2009 Population	2010 Population
1.China	1,338,612,968	1,338,650,000
2. India	1,156,897,766	1,183,416,000
3. U.S.A.	307,212,123	309,738,000
4. Indonesia	240,271,522	234,181,000
5. Brazil	190,010,647	193,223,000
6. Pakistan	174,578,558	170,013,500
7. Bangladesh	156,050,883	162,221,000
8. Nigeria	149,229,090	154,729,000
9. Russia	140,041,247	141,927,297
10. Japan	127,078,679	127,380,000

                                                                                                                                  

Highest Guitar Hero 3 score by a female

Annie Leung holds the record for the highest score by a female gamer on Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock: 789,349 points playing “Through the Fire and Flames” on the expert setting.

10 Cool Facts About Stick Insects

When I was little, I believed that stick insects were so poisonous you could die just by brushing your hand against one. I'm not sure where I got that idea, but it's not true, it turns out. These 10 facts about stick insects, on the other hand, are true.
1. Stick insects can shed and regenerate their limbs to escape attacks by predators.
Should a bird or other predator grab hold of a stick insect's leg, it can still make an easy escape. The stick insect simply gives up the leg, using a special muscle to break it off at a weak joint. Juvenile stick insects will regenerate the missing limb the next time they molt. In some cases, adult stick insects can even force themselves to molt again to regain a lost leg.
2. Stick insects can reproduce parthenogenetically, without the need for males.
Stick insects are a nation of Amazons, able to reproduce almost entirely without males. Unmated females produce eggs that become more females. When a male does manage to mate with a female, there's a 50/50 chance their offspring will be male. A captive female stick insect can produce hundreds of all-female offspring without ever mating. There are species of stick insects for which scientists have never found any males.
3. Stick insects not only look like sticks, they act like them, too.
Stick insects are so named for their effective camouflage among the woody plants where they feed. They're typically brown, black, or green, with stick-shaped bodies that help them blend in as they perch on twigs and branches. Some even wear lichen-like markings to make their disguise more authentic. Stick insects imitate twigs swaying in the wind by rocking back and forth as they move.
4. Stick insect eggs resemble seeds scattered about the forest floor.
Stick insect mothers aren't the most maternal of insects. They typically drop eggs randomly on the forest floor, leaving the youngsters to whatever fate befalls them. Don't be so quick to judge mama stick insect, though. By spreading her eggs out, she lessens the chance that a predator will find all her offspring and eat them. Her eggs resemble seeds, so carnivorous predators will be less likely to take a closer look. Some stick insects actually make an effort to hide their eggs, sticking them to leaves or bark, or placing them in the soil.
5. Nymphs usually eat their molted skin.
Once a nymph has molted, it's vulnerable to predators until its new cuticle darkens and hardens. The castoff skin nearby is a dead giveaway to enemies, so the nymph will quickly consume the shriveled exoskeleton to get rid of the evidence. The stick insect nymph also recycles the protein by eating its molted skin.
6. Stick insects don't bite, but they aren't defenseless.
If threatened, a stick insect will use whatever means necessary to thwart its attacker. Some will regurgitate a nasty substance that will put a bad taste in a hungry predator's mouth. Others reflex bleed, oozing a foul-smelling hemolymph from joints in their body. Some of the large, tropical stick insects may use their leg spines, which help them climb, to inflict some pain on an enemy. Stick insects may even direct a chemical spray, much like tear gas, at the offender.
7. Stick insect eggs may attract ants, which then collect and store the eggs in their nests.
Stick insect eggs that resemble hard seeds have a special, fatty capsule called a capitulum at one end. Ants enjoy the nutritional boost provided by the capitulum, and carry the stick insect eggs back to their nests for a meal. Once the ants feed on the fats and nutrients, they toss the eggs onto their garbage heap where they continue to incubate safe from predators. As the nymphs hatch, they make their way out of the ant nest.
8. Not all stick insects are boring brown.
Some stick insects can change color, like a chameleon, depending on the background where they're at rest. Stick insects may also wear bright colors on their wings, but keep these flamboyant features tucked away. When a bird or other predator approaches, the stick insect will flash the vibrant wings, then hide them again, leaving the predator confused and unable to relocate its target.
9. Stick insects can play dead.
When all else fails, play dead, right? A threatened stick insect will abruptly drop from wherever it's perched, fall to the ground, and stay very still. This behavior, called thanatosis, can successfully discourage predators. A bird or mouse may be unable to find the immobile insect on the ground, or prefer living prey and move on.
10. Stick insects hold the record for longest insects in the world.
In 2008, a newly discovered stick insect species from Borneo broke the record for longest insect (which had previously been held by another stick insect, Pharnacia serratipes). The Chan's megastick, Phobaeticus chain, measures an incredible 22 inches with legs extended, with a body length of 14 inches.