One of the best creations of the universe is our mother earth, who has given us many things but is greedy in exploiting her resources. The Earth gives us everything, but in return we give it nothing except loss and damage. Friends, we have tried to explore and exploit the earth in many ways, but we still barely know 10% of it. So here are some of the amazing facts we are about to tell you about the earth that you may not know. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The Earth is Smoother than a Billiard Ball: Did You Know? Maybe you've heard this statement: If the Earth were shrunk to the size of a billiard ball, it would actually be smoother than a billiard ball. Third party image reference; Plate tectonics keeps the planet comfortable: Earth is the only planet in the solar system with plate tectonics. Basically, the Earth's outer crust is divided into regions known as tectonic plates. These float on the Earth's internal magma and can move against each other. When two plates collide, one subducts and, at the point where they separate, allow new crust to form. The Earth is almost a sphere: Many people tend to think that the Earth is a sphere. Indeed, between the 6th century BC and the modern era, this remained the scientific consensus. But thanks to modern astronomy and space travel, scientists have come to understand that the Earth is actually shaped like a flattened sphere. Although the tallest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest, the feature furthest from the center of the Earth is actually Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador. It doesn't take the Earth 24 hours to rotate on its axis: it actually takes 23 hours and 56 minutes and 4 seconds for the Earth to rotate completely on its axis, which astronomers call a Sidereal Day. Now wait a second, doesn't that mean a day is 4 minutes shorter than we think? You would think that this time would add up, day after day, and within a few months day would become night and night would become day. But remember that the Earth orbits the Sun. Each day the Sun moves relative to the background stars by about 1°, about the size of the Moon in the sky. So if we add up that little movement of the Sun that we see because the Earth orbits it, plus the rotation around its axis, you get a total of 24 hours. A year on Earth is not 365 days: It is actually 365.2564 days. It is these 0.2564 extra days that create the need for a leap year once every four years. That's why we add an extra day to February every four years: 2004, 2008, 2012, etc. Exceptions to this rule occur if the year in question is divisible by 100 (1900, 2100, etc.) unless it is divisible by 400. (1600, 2000, etc.). The largest living organism in the world is a mushroom: Coral is the largest living structure, but it is actually made up of many individual organisms. The largest living thing, however, is the honey mushroom, or little finger. The largest single organism covers 3.4 square miles and is thousands of years old. It is edible, but is also considered a pest and causes serious problems for nearby plants and trees. There are no 24 hours in a day: People often say there are not enough hours in the day and they are right, not even 24 hours. Right; the actual time it takes for the planet to rotate on its axis is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds. This is what is called a sidereal day. The solar day, the time it takes for the sun to return to the same point on the meridian, varies by up to 16 minutes throughout the year, due to its position in its orbit. Earth had a sister planet called Theia: scientists now!