Earth used to have 2 moons. According to astronomers, about 4.6 million years ago, Earth had two satellites. Satellite – The second Moon is about 1,200km in diameter and orbits the same until it collides with the “main” Moon. Scientists have called this event a “giant slap”. Such a catastrophe could explain why the two sides of the Moon are so far apart today
Magnetic poles can be changed. Earth’s magnetic poles can shift and even change direction completely. By examining volcanic rocks, scientists discovered that our planet’s magnetic field has changed many times. The last polar change was nearly 10 million years ago and is likely to happen in the future. However, it is still not known exactly why that happens
We have not reached the mantle of the Earth. Seismologists believe that the inner core of our planet is solid, while the outer layer is liquid and hot. Above is the mantle, the Earth’s crust seems to slide over it. However, we still don’t know what this shell is made of, because we’ve never been there. It is located at a depth of 30 – 900km, while the deepest “hole” that man has dug is the Kola well in Russia, only 12.3km deep.
“Moon Cave”. Not everyone knows, but earthquakes also happen on the Moon. Yes, unlike earthquakes, moonquakes are not very strong and occur very rarely. It is hypothesized that their occurrence is related to the tidal forces of the Sun and Earth and the fall of meteorites.
The Earth rotates faster. The Earth rotates at a speed of 1,600km/h. It also orbits the Sun at an even greater speed – 108,000km/h. In fact, we can only feel motion if its speed changes. Since the Earth’s rotation speed and gravity are constant, we can’t feel it at all
Time is getting “more and more”. 620 million years ago, a day on Earth lasted 21.9 hours. Over time, the Earth slows down its rotation, but this happens very slowly, about 70 milliseconds in 100 years. Thus, it would take 100 million years for a day to have 25 hours.
Strange gravity. Due to the fact that our planet is not an ideal sphere, there are points on Earth that have different low and high gravity. One such gravity anomaly is Hudson Bay in Canada. Scientists have discovered that the low gravity in this place is related to the rapid melting of the glaciers
Hottest and coldest spot on Earth. The hottest place on our planet is in El-Aziziyah (Libya). The temperature here sometimes reaches +58°С. And the coldest is Antarctica. In winter, the temperature there drops to -73°C. But an extremely low temperature (-89.2°С) was recorded at Russia’s Vostok station, on July 21, 1983.
The planet is heavily polluted. Perhaps this is not a strange thing for many people. However, what is interesting is that according to the astronauts, the view of Earth from space in 1978 was very different from today. Due to the large amount of space debris and waste, the green – white – blue planet turns brown – gray – black
The Earth is made up of iron, oxygen and silicon. If we wanted to divide the planet by composition, it would look like this: iron 32.1%, oxygen 30.1%, silicon 15.1%, and magnesium 13.9%. It is believed that most of the iron (about 90%) is found in the Earth’s core and most of the oxygen (about 47%) in the Earth’s crust.
Once upon a time, the earth was purple. Ancient plants did not use chlorophyll to absorb sunlight but another pigment – retinal. Thanks to retinal, they absorb green light, and reflect red and purple, which, when mixed, turn purple. It is known that retinal exists to this day in the body of some bacteria
Underground ocean: Scientists have discovered a huge reservoir of water dating back to 2.7 billion years old at a depth of 410 – 660km below the Earth’s surface. This liquid is found thanks to the ringwoodite rock found in the Earth’s mantle. Water is under tremendous pressure, and its quantity is enough to fill all the oceans on Earth 3 times. From this discovery, it is hypothesized that the oceans on Earth formed from the explosion of the underground ocean
