5 Interesting Facts About the World

What are the most interesting facts about the world that you have heard about in your lifetime? We have all heard and even learned new amazing facts in this world.

We wonder sometimes just how many of these nuggets of knowledge are actually true. And we go through our lives questioning how some of them can actually be correct – even though we learn them from very reliable sources. These are the amazing world facts that we are listing in this article.

Listed below are five (5) of the most interesting facts about the world that we have come across:

The Earth Actually Has Two Co-Orbital Satellites

As we all know, our Earth has a single moon that we know quite a bit about. There is a ton of information available about the Moon. But very few of us are aware of the two asteroids that are also trapped by Earth’s orbit. They are known as 2002 AA₂₉ and 3753 Cruithne, and they belong to a larger group of asteroids that are referred to as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

3753 Cruithne has a diameter of over three miles and is often referred to as “the second moon of Earth”. It actually has its own synchronized orbit with our planet. It’s unusual orbit appears to be following our planet’s orbit, but it follows its own unique path around the Sun.

On the other hand, 2002 AA₂₉ is just 60 meters across and actually travels along a horseshoe orbit around our planet which brings it very close to the Earth every 95 years or so. In approximately 600 years, it will seem to circle our Earth in a bizarre quasi-satellite orbit. Many scientists believe this will be the best chance for a future space exploration mission.

The Poles of the Earth Routinely Flip

We have all been taught that the North Pole is above Alaska, and the South Pole is located in Antarctica. This might always be the case for the Earth’s geographic poles, but it is not the case for its magnetic poles. Scientists have learned that during the last 20 million years or so, these magnetic poles flip-flopped approximately each several hundred thousand years or so.

While experts know that the molten iron core is what powers the movement of these poles, they are not clear on what causes the actual pole reversals. This entire process is very gradual and takes place every millennium. Presently, the magnetic North Pole of the Earth is slowly creeping north by some 40 miles each year. And when we know that the last time that the pole flipped was only 780,000 years ago, we know that a flip will happen soon.

The Rotation of the Earth is Gradually Slowing Down

The deceleration is the Earth’s rotation is extremely slight and certainly not even noticeable. It is taking place at a rate of around 17 milliseconds for every hundred years, but this rate is not uniform at all. This actually will gradually lengthen our days, but it will take perhaps a 140 million years before our days become 25 hours long.

When our Earth was created some 4.6 billion years ago, the length of its day then was only about six hours long. About 620 million years ago, this day had been increased to around 22 hours. As we know, our days today are around 24 hours long. The reason this is occurring is because of the moon’s influence on the tides taking place on Earth.

The Earth’s Atmosphere Extends to a Distance of 6200 Miles

While our planet’s atmosphere is most dense where it is closest to its surface, but it extends 6200 miles into space from the surface of the Earth. This atmosphere is comprised of five (5) layers. These layers are the Stratosphere, the Troposphere, the Thermosphere, the Mesosphere, and the Exosphere. We know that air density and pressure typically decrease with distance from the planet’s surface.

The majority of the atmosphere is near the surface. Experts claim that 75% of this atmosphere resides within the first 11 km from Earth’s surface. Conversely, the Exosphere, which is the outermost of all the layers, stretches from 430 miles above sea level to 6200 miles. While the exosphere directly borders with outer space, it contains very little atmosphere.

The Largest Mammal Migration Is Actually Airborne

Nature scientists tell us about the migration of thousands of different animals that occurs all over the world. We might think that the 1.3 million wildebeest who migrate from Tanzania to Kenya is the world’s biggest migration of mammals, but this is not even close to the record.

The biggest migration belongs to the millions of giant fruit bats that travel from Zambia’s Kasanka National Park to the Democratic Republic of Congo every year. This number easily exceeds 10 million and is the largest mammal migration that happens on Earth.

Conclusion

As we can see, these facts are most certainly among the most interesting facts about the world that can be found. Hopefully, you will agree and share this article with your friends.

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