Earth is our home planet. It’s the only body in our solar system known to harbor life. Life is abundant on Earth, in the oceans, on land and in the skies. From the smallest microbes to the largest animals ever to live on Earth, the blue whale, the diversity of life on Earth is staggering.
Another feature that makes Earth different from all other planets in our solar system is the liquid water that covers the surface of the planet. The surface of the Earth is 71 percent water and only 29 percent dry land. 97 percent of the water on Earth is salt water contained in the oceans, and only 3 percent is freshwater. The Sun heats the oceans, evaporating water into the atmosphere. The warm moist air rises into the upper atmosphere where it cools and condenses into clouds. The clouds accumulate water vapor to create rain storms, and fresh water is released onto the land to form lakes, rivers and streams.
Earth is also the only known planet in our solar system to have active crustal plates, known as “tectonic plates.” These huge slabs of the Earth’s crust are in constant motion, driven by heat from deep in the core of the Earth. The tectonic plates grind into each other along plate boundaries to create mountain ranges, volcanoes and earthquakes. The Earth has approximately 1,500 identified active volcanoes, 50 to 70 of which erupt somewhere on Earth each year.
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