Planet Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and almost 25,000 miles round. Think about that for a moment, the planet that we are living on has been around for over 4 billion years. That is hard to think about as many people have an average lifespan of around 70 years.
Nonetheless, this isn’t enough. Human beings are still making discoveries concerning the amazing secrets that the planet could be concealing.
From the Great Barrier Reef to the Northern Lights, Earth is the only planet in the universe known to host and support life. The fact that planet Earth is awe-inspiring is even more truthful for the few humans who’ve had the chance to see it from space.
Here are 4 scary things about the Earth:
1. The planet’s poles keep flipping
Your geography teacher probably told you that the North is somewhere in Alaska while the South is some point in the middle of Antarctica. Well, while this will always be true for the geographic poles of the planet, it is only intermittently true when considering the planet’s magnetic poles.
Research has revealed that the magnetic poles have flip-flopped after several hundred thousand years over the past 20 million years. This only reveals that your compass would tell you that the North is in Antarctica if you held it about 800,000 years ago.
However, it is not clear what triggers these reversals despite the existence of scientific evidence to prove that the churning, molten iron core fosters these polar acrobatics.
2. The Earth has a supersized moon
You have probably witnessed the rising of the supermoon. Nonetheless, the Earth’s moon is always considered as the most overgrown satellite in the solar system. In essence, the moon is positively enormous, equated to about a quarter as wide as our planet.
3. The most enormous mammal migration on the planet is airborne
Yes, the 1.3 million wildebeests that hoof their way between Kenya and Tanzania must have crossed your mind. But you are wrong. Here’s the surprising truth:
Well, millions and millions of giant fruit bats fly between the Kasanka National Park in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo annually. With over 10 million of these mango-munching, cat-sized chiropterans on course, this is probably the largest mammal migration on earth.
4. 72% of the planet Earth is covered by water
The planet earth harbors about 1.386 billion cubic kilometers of water. Surprisingly, 97% of these waters are held in the world’s oceans, making them too salty for human usage. On the other hand, the 2.5% of freshwater found in polar ice caps, the atmosphere, soil and glaciers are either too polluted or located too far below ground and therefore inaccessible to humans.
This leaves us with only 0.5% of the planet’s water available for human consumption and usage. The United Nations estimates that 4 in 10 people will be affected by water shortage challenges by 2025.
Remember, the Peruvian Amazon harbors the legendary boiling river that is hidden deep in its surface. This reveals the mystery of the water bodies on the planet.
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