Earth is the only planet that is known to support life. The Earth has land, air, water and sunlight. All these help living things to sustain their life.
Shape of the earth
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A long time ago, the Earth was thought to be flat. After some years, sailors proved that Earth is not flat. The Earth is round in shape. Sailors proved this when they started their journey from a particular point and reached the same point as the end. This proves that the path they took is round in shape.
If you stand at a seashore and see a ferry sailing off the shore of the sea, after some time we see that the lower part of the ship disappears first then the top part. This is so because the ferry is sailing on the Earth’s round surface.
Photographs that are taken from space also prove that the Earth has a round shape. People who travel to space have seen the earth, round in shape floating in the sky. These people are known as astronauts.
MOVEMENTS OF THE EARTH
The Earth has two types of movements- Rotation and Revolution.
Rotation
In this movement, the Earth is like a bottle top because it spins on its axis all the time. It spins from west to east. The Earth completes a full rotation in 24 hours. The spinning movement of the Earth about its axis is known as rotation.
Day and night
The Earth’s rotation causes day and night. It takes approximately 24 hours for the Earth to complete one rotation. Therefore, one day and one night make 24 hours. At any time, some parts of the Earth are day while others are night. The reason is that, as the Earth rotates around the sun on its axis, half of the earth faces the sun while the other faces away. The part facing the earth has day time while the one facing away from the sun has night time.
Revolution
The earth does not only rotate on its axis. It also goes around the sun in a fixed circular path known as the orbit. This Earth’s movement is known as revolution. It takes the Earth about 365 days to complete a full revolution. This is called a year.
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