Welcome to Earth!
You have reached stop #4 on Plymouth PTA’s Mission: Planet Exploration, a driving tour of the solar system designed to scale based on a 6-foot sun at Plymouth Elementary School! Click on Mission: Planet Exploration for more info, including a map to all 8 planets.
Image Credit: NASA
home sweet home
Earth is just slightly larger than Venus, which makes it the largest of the four planets closest to the Sun, all of which are made of rock and metal. It is the only planet in our solar system that has all the right conditions to support life as we know it. Not only is 70% of the Earth’s surface covered in water, its atmosphere is the right blend of gases (78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases) that allows us to breathe, protects us from incoming meteoroids, and regulates the temperature here on Earth. (Remember how incredibly hot and cold other planets get? Thank you, atmosphere!)
More kid-friendly facts about Earth can be found at the NASA Science Space Place.
More in-depth information about Earth can be found at NASA Science Solar System Exploration.