HOW THE EARTH WORKS
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How does the Earth work?

The Earth is only a tiny, tiny part of the entire universe although to the people living on it, it may seem gigantic. Earth is part of the Milky Way galaxy and this galaxy is only one of millions in the entire universe. In this galaxy there are seven other planets besides Earth that all revolve around the sun. The earth’s total diameter is 7,926 miles and its mass is extremely small compared to the sun. Although when standing on earth, the sun seems to be extremely small because those on earth are looking at the sun when it is 93 million miles away. To gain an idea of how big the sun is compared to earth, imagine that approximately one million planets the same size as earth, could fit within the sun’s mass.

The sun is essential in the workings of earth. Without the sun, earth would cease to exist. Every single system and everything that comprises the earth, needs energy and that energy comes from the sun. The sun turns hydrogen into helium to create energy into light and heat. When the light and heat reach the earth, this causes many different reactions. Plants and food grows, and the ocean and the atmosphere begin to circulate.

As the earth spins on its axis, the different sides of the planet are exposed to the sun’s rays at different times. When one side is in the shade, this is night time and morning comes again once the earth has rotated once again to expose that side to the sun. Hence, different areas of the world will experience day and night at different times. The areas of the world that experience daytime are considerably warmer than those that are experiencing night. This is common sense to most people but the impact that this rotation has is really very large and affects nearly everything on earth.

The equator is so warm because the sun shines directly on it. This is why the ozone layer is thinner there than anywhere else in the world. Warm air begins to rise, and this creates a low pressure system. Because the warm air rises, the air gets colder. This colder air is how rain and clouds are formed. As the rain falls, the air will dry out creating air that is warm and dry. The low air pressure then moves toward the equator from both north and south directions. Just as warm air rises, the cool air will drop and create areas that are higher pressure. This high pressure is the cause of deserts forming on either side of the equator. This is only one way on earth that air moves from high-pressure to low-pressure areas. It may seem complex but it’s not really. It’s the same principle as a hot drink heating the air around it until the drink becomes cold.

This system is important to the Coriolis Effect. This system is concerned with weather and causes weather patterns to rotate. The Coriolis Effect creates trade winds, which run in a westward direction towards the equator, and jet streams, which run in an eastward direction in both the north and south hemispheres. The way these westward and eastward patterns work is to move weather from one place to the other by moving air and water. This works on an extremely large scale. The sun is responsible for creating wind and moisture in the form of rain. As the warm air rises, the space where that air once was remains empty. Surrounding air will quickly fill in the empty space and wind is the result of this air movement.

The sun is also responsible for the different gases in the air. While we breathe oxygen, the atmosphere is actually mostly made up of nitrogen. Oxygen makes up about twenty-one percent of the gases in the air while carbon monoxide, water vapours, argon, and ozone make up as little as one percent of the atmosphere. Plants are responsible for the oxygen that is in the air and they create this oxygen through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the basic process of plants inhaling carbon monoxide and turning it into oxygen, which they release. We in turn, inhale oxygen and release carbon dioxide. The sun provides this gas for the plants to inhale and we benefit from it when we not only breathe in the oxygen but also eat the plants.

The sun also has a major impact on our water. Because the sun shines mostly around the equator and is almost non-existent around the north and south poles, the water is warm in the tropics and cold in the far north and south. The currents in the ocean then move the water, whatever the temperature of that water is, and has a major impact on the weather and climate throughout the earth. The water cycle moves approximately 18,757 cubic miles of water around the atmosphere every year and the sun is once again, responsible for the water cycle.

Evaporation, the process in which water dries, and condensation, the process in which water forms, is all part of the water cycle. The water cycle begins with the sun shining on the oceans to heat them. Through evaporation, the water the sun has warmed rises into the air. As it rises, the water becomes colder and forms to make droplets, which then become clouds. When there is an excess of these droplets in the clouds that water returns to the ground in the form of rain. While some of the rain is collected in wells in the ground, the excess is returned to the oceans and rivers.

The sun begins the water cycle, with evaporation. Without evaporation, there would be no weather and the water on earth would be stagnant. The water would also be ice in the absence of the sun as there would be no way to warm it. The entire planet, in fact, would be frozen.

These are the main patterns of earth and how it is in existence because of the presence of the sun. There’s no doubt that without the sun, there would be no life on earth. The sun provides oxygen, carbon dioxide, wind, rain, and seasons. Any pattern that is in place on earth is because of the sun and there would be no life on earth without it.

 

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