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Earth
Earth is the third closest planet
to the Sun at a distance of about 150 million
kilometers (93.2 million miles). It takes 365.256
days for the Earth to travel around the Sun and
23.9345 hours for the Earth rotate a complete
revolution. It has a diameter of 12,756 kilometers
(7,973 miles), only a few hundred kilometers larger
than that of Venus. Our atmosphere is composed
of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen and
1 percent other constituents.
Earth is also
called as Terra and Tellus. Its astronomical
symbol consists of a circled cross, representing
a meridian and the equator; a variant puts
the cross atop the circle. Besides words
derived from Terra, such as terrestrial,
terms that refer to the Earth include tellur-
(telluric, tellurian, from the Roman goddess
Tellus) and geo- (geocentric, geothermal;
from the Greek goddess Gaia). |
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Earth is an Old English and
German word, it was 'ertha' in Old Saxon, 'aerde'
in Dutch, and 'erda' in German, it simply means
'land'. Earth's atmosphere protects us from meteors,
most of which burn up before they can strike the
surface.
You could also see
vPhysical
Characteristics
vEarth
in the Solar System
vEarths
Moon
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