10 Facts About Our Planet You Didn't Learn In School

Ok, Rocket Man, 10 facts about our planet you didn't learn in school. We seem to think we know pretty much all there is to know about our familiar home planet that nothing can surprise us at this point. But are you willing to bet money on that? You might know that it's called the Blue Planet, but did you know that scientists say Earth was originally a different color? Or that the Moon isn't Earth's only satellite? Intrigued? Good! Then, let's get to know our home planet a little better with these 10 little-known Earthly facts. Counting down from number 10, the Moon is probably a chunk of the Earth. Before our planet had its cosmic companion, scientists believed that the early Earth was all alone in its path around the Sun. Then, about 4 billion years ago, when the Earth was still just a baby, a gigantic space rock the size of Mars and with the lovely name Theia collided with our planet. As a result, a huge chunk of the Earth broke away and later became our satellite, the Moon. And our planet never felt lonely again. Ah, a happy ending! Number 9. The Earth's magnetic field is changing. Earth has a strong magnetic field, thanks to two important factors. Its nickel-iron core and a pretty fast axial rotation. The magnetic field is vital for Earth because it protects the planet from the impact of solar winds. We think of our planet's magnetic field as something constant and stable, but the truth is that it's changing. Researchers say that since the 19th century, the northern magnetic pole has shifted about 685 miles, moving northwestward across the Canadian Arctic. The southern magnetic pole is also constantly roaming. Scientists have actually known about the migration of the poles for a long time. James Ross, an explorer and British naval officer, pinpointed the northern magnetic pole for the first time in 1831. He discovered it during his exhausting voyage to the Arctic, where his ship got trapped in the ice, forcing the crew to spend a harsh four years there. Maybe that's why nobody went back to that place until the next century. In 1904, Roald Amundsen, a polar regions explorer from Norway, reached the north magnetic pole again and was surprised to find that it had shifted 31 miles since Ross' discovery. Hey, you can't keep a good pole down, you know what I mean? You just gotta let them wander! Number 8. Gravity isn't the same everywhere on the planet. Earth, despite common belief, isn't perfectly round. It's more like a squashed sphere, kinda like how my head is shaped. So its mass is irregular and differs in various places, which causes wobbles of gravity in different areas of the planet. One of these gravitational anomalies is found in Canada's Hudson Bay, where the gravity is much weaker than anywhere else on the planet. A 2007 study found the reason for such a phenomenon is melted glaciers. That area was once covered with a thick layer of ice. When that ice later melted, the imprint of this glacier partially pushed aside some of the Earth's mass in that region. It's precisely this slight deformation of the crust that can explain the 25-45% weaker gravity there. Ooh, they should open up a spa! Sounds like a great place to lose some weight and not have to work so hard, huh? As for the rest, perhaps it's somehow connected with the movement of magma in the planet's mantle. At least that's what researchers have predicted in Science Journal. Number 7. Earth had and still might have one more moon. Some scientists believe that our planet used to have an additional satellite. According to their research, a smaller celestial body about 750 miles wide orbited the Earth just like a second moon. It most likely crashed into our main satellite later on. Such a collision could explain why the two sides of the moon look so different from each other, one being heavily cratered and rough. Scientists also don't rule out the probability that one day Earth will get another satellite. Even today, there are tons of celestial bodies that follow the planet. They're mostly temporary companions, though. But scientists say that the gravitational field of our planet occasionally captures even quite big asteroids that spin around the Earth for several months, or about 3 rotations. After that, they move on in their journey across the expanses of the cosmos. Kinda like hitchhikers! Number 6. There are moonquakes on the moon! Now earthquakes, or rather moonquakes on the moon, aren't something from science fiction. They actually happen. They don't occur as often as those on Earth, but they are much deeper and closer to the center of our satellite, about halfway between the surface and the core. Scientists believe this phenomenon has something to do with the gravitational force between the Earth and the moon. So we can truthfully say to the moon, hey, your quake is not our fault. Get it? Fault? Alright, let's move on. Number 5. Our planet is covered in gold! Really? About 20 million tons of gold can be found inside our very own planet and in the seas. If all this precious metal could be extracted, it would be enough to cover the entire surface of the planet in a 2-foot layer of gold. And if we gave everyone an equal piece, each one of Earth's inhabitants would get 9 pounds of this treasure. But don't rush out to dig up your backyard just yet. The metal is extremely diluted. You can only get a gram of gold for every 100 million tons of seawater. But can't we at least try, please? Number 4. Earth used to be purple! Now Dr. Shil Desarma, a microbial geneticist from the University of Maryland, hypothesizes – which is a $10 scientific word for guesses – that our planet was once purple. He thinks that ancient microbes probably didn't use chlorophyll but other molecules to process sunlight. These molecules most likely would have given a violet hue to the microbes, turning the entire planet purple. Man, Prince was born way too early! He would've loved that! Number 3. The tallest mountain on the planet isn't what you think! Now, this may seem shocking, but the title of the tallest mountain in the world might be stolen from Mount Everest. No doubt this enormous mountain reaches 29,029 feet above sea level, and there's no other mountain on Earth that stands so tall. But there is Mauna Kea, a mountain in Hawaii. It stands proud with its peak just about 13,802 feet above sea level. By the way, this makes Hawaii the second tallest island in the whole world! So what are we getting at, you ask? That's much shorter than Mount Everest, after all! True, but the thing is that the largest part of this over 1 million-year-old mountain is underwater, and if measured from the very bottom on the ocean floor to the peak, Mauna Kea is 33,000 feet tall, making it, technically, the tallest mountain on the planet. Aloha! Number 2. Earth has exploding lakes. Well, on the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as well as in Cameroon, There are three deadly explosive lakes. Nyos, Monoun, and Kivu are crater lakes that are located over volcanic Earth. This means that magma lurking below the surface emits carbon dioxide into the waters of the lake. This carbon dioxide builds up in a thick layer at the bottom of the lakes until pressure gives way and it's released in an explosion. It doesn't happen often, but if anyone is unlucky enough to be passing by at that moment, they'll be asphyxiated with the gas. Oh my, so it's really a farting lake that can kill you if you get too close. Hey, I have a brother-in-law kinda like that. And number 1. Earth is home to the most powerful volcanic eruption ever. The most powerful eruption ever recorded happened in April 1815. The heart of the explosion was Mount Tambora in Indonesia. This eruption was ranked a 7, or supercolossal, on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. This ranking is similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes and goes from 1 to 8. The 1815 explosion was so loud that even people on Sumatra Island could hear it, and that's about 1,200 miles away. Over 71,000 people died in this catastrophic disaster, and dark clouds of wet ash covered distant islands. Scary. So which earthly fact shocked you the most? Perhaps you know some more information about our beautiful planet that we haven't mentioned. Let us know in the comments below. Share this video with all your friends who are thirsty for knowledge. And if you had fun watching this video, hit the like button. Don't forget that big red button either. 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