Appreciating the Earth

Written by Harshit Sharma

Written by Sofiya Shahiwala

World Earth Day is celebrated on the 22^nd of April every year. This day was first celebrated in 1970 to honour Mother Earth and to spread peace.

On this day this year, the team of SciKnowTech brings forth a few very interesting facts which might leave you intrigued to know about our common mother.

1. Earlier, it was believed that Earth was at the centre of the Universe and all the plants, including the sun and the satellites, revolved around it.
2. All the planets in our solar system are named after Roman Gods and Goddesses, except the Earth. Our planet gets its name from Old English/German. It comes from the word ‘ertha’ (old English) and ‘erde’ (German) which means ground or soil.
3. Each winter, about a septillion (1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000) snowflakes fall from the sky to hit our motherland.
4. We all know about the fact that Mt Everest is the highest point on the Earth. Consequently, the lowest point on the Earth is the Challenger Deep.
5. By doing some phenomenal research, our scientists have found that the Earth is about 4.5 billion years old.
6. The North Pole of the Earth has no solid land below it. There is just sea ice.
7. The Corpse Flower has the largest unbranched fluorescence in the world. However, it is also the smelliest flower in the entire world.
   This flower blooms in every 4-6 years and lasts just for a day or two. As the name suggests, it smells like rotting
8. If the Earth existed only for 24 hours, it is believed that dinosaurs would have gotten extinct at 11:41 p.m. and Humans would not have started existing before 11:54:43 p.m.
9. Almost 80% of the creatures of the Earth have six legs!
10. The Dallol Geothermal Field in Ethiopia is devoid of any life.
    Despite having water at the unearthly place, there are absolutely no inhabitants at this place.