3 Unique Characteristics of the Earth
After all, only here there is life (as far as we know, of course). And only here you can have fun right at home by playing a blackjack online game.
But what makes Earth so special? After all, it is not particularly large, there are no materials on it that are not available on other planets. And the process of its formation was not particularly different from that of other planets.
In this article, we will look at some of the unique characteristics of the Earth. And their importance for the emergence and maintenance of life.
3 Unique Characteristics of the Earth
1. Liquid Water
Earth is the only planet in the Solar System located in the so–called "habitable zone".
A habitable zone is an area around a star in which a planet may have liquid water on the surface. This distance varies from star to star and depends on its size and type.
The habitable zone of the Sun is somewhere between 0.9 and 1.2 astronomical units (from 134 to 179 million kilometers). Earth is the only planet in the Solar System whose orbit is completely in this range.
Mars is right on the edge of the zone. And this is one of the reasons why some scientists believe that water oceans could have existed on the Red Planet in the past.
Theoretically, some satellites and planets of the Solar System have liquid water. This is the case with Neptune, Uranus, Triton, Titan, Europa, and other bodies. But in these cases, liquid water may be contained in some "temperature pockets" under the surface or the mantle near the cores of these cosmic bodies.
About 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The oceans contain about 96% of the entire water of our planet. The rest is distributed in the form of atmospheric steam, polar ice caps, glaciers, lakes, rivers, and soil moisture.
2. A Planet With Continents
Continents are large continuous landmasses that are located on actively moving tectonic plates, as if "floating" on the planet's mantle. As plates move and geological activity is in the form of volcanoes, everything on this planet drifts and rebuilds.
Earth is the only planet in the Solar System with continents. And it has them precisely because it is the only one of the inner (rocky) planets that have plate tectonics. Without them, the geological activity necessary to form huge land masses would simply never have happened.
The surface of other rocky planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars) is more uniform. Even though they have mountains and other features that arose as a result of geological activity in the past. In the case of Venus, there may still be active volcanoes there today. But this is not yet known for sure.
As for the other planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), since they consist of gas and have no surface, they cannot have continents.
On Earth, continents are separated by oceans. And there is still debate about whether oceans of liquid water are necessary for the formation of these continents.
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