Planetary Comparison
Planetary Comparison
Ken White
University of Phoenix
June 18, 2007
Table of Contents
The Planet Earth: Its Qualities and Properties 3
Comparisons between the Other Planets and the Earth 5
References 8
The Planet Earth: Its Qualities and Properties
The Earth is our home planet and, so far, remains to be the only living planet among the eight planets that comprise the solar system. Dr. Dutch (2004) considered our planet as the home of all known life in the universe. The life on the planet Earth is said to be made possible by its characteristics that are conducive to the existence of a diverse living planet. The right distance from the sun, which makes the planet to receive the right amount of warmth and light as well as the presence of water provide a perfect formula for living things to survive on Earth (Dutch, 2004).
Earth, according to Dutch (2004), is the fifth largest planet in the solar system with a diameter of approximately 8,000 miles (or 13,000 kilometers) as compared with the Jupiter's diameter, which is the largest, of approximately 11 times larger than the Earth (Dutch, 2004). Earth is the third farthest planet from the sun with a distance of approximately 93 million miles (or 150 million kilometers) and it takes the planet 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 9.54 seconds to revolve around the sun in its orbit (Dutch, 2004). Dutch (2004) explained that the "Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle" which results in the planet being "slightly closer to the sun in early January (winter in the Northern Hemisphere) and farther away in July". Dutch (2004) explained further that our planet is 91.4 million miles away from the sun in January and moves a little farther with a distance of 94.5 million miles from the sun in July. The planet travels in is orbit at 66,700 miles an hour, which translates to 18.5 miles a second (Dutch, 2004). It, on the other...
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