Background: Global Data

Earth's Solids (Lithosphere)

Diameter - 12,756 kilometres / 7,926 miles

Weight - 5.98 sextillion metric tons!

Composition - Iron (Fe), Oxygen (O), Silicon (Si), Magnesium (Mg), Nickel (Ni), Sulfur (S), and many other elements

Earth's Air (Atmosphere)

Our atmosphere constitutes less than one millionth of the total mass of the Earth. Nitrogen(79%), Oxygen (18%), Other components of the atmosphere are hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and inert gases (argon & helium)

Earth's Water (Hydrosphere)

Our hydrosphere is 0.023 % of the total mass of the Earth. Sea water accounts for most of the water - The seas consist of a great deal of H2O with suspended salts. Fresh water is a mere 3% of all the water on earth. About two thirds of the fresh water, however, is in the form of ice.

Earth's Web of Life (Biosphere)




Microbes, Bacteria, Protozoa, Algae, etc.. - These consume both Plants, Fungi and Animals. They are largely considered as Decomposers. Most of the mass of living things on earth consists of microbes.

Plants - In their solar daytime respiration, plants use carbon dioxide for their metabolism and return free oxygen to the atmosphere. At night, when the solar energy is unavailable for photosynthesis, plants use oxygen and expel CO2 like animals. Plants consume the decayed remains of plants and animals and many cooperate symbiotically with fungi in the soil.

Fungi - In their respiration, fungi use oxygen for their metabolism and produce carbon dioxide - thereby returning a combination of carbon and oxygen to the atmosphere. Some Fungi live symbiotically with plants. Some Fungi consume plants and/or animals.

Animals - In their respiration, animals use oxygen for their metabolism and produce carbon dioxide - thereby returning a combination of carbon and oxygen to the atmosphere. Animals, of course, eat both plants and/or other animals. Viewed on the tree of Evolution, Animals are more closely related to Fungi than they are to Plants.


Our lives are woven together from the materials and energy of the Earth and the Sun. We are all quite literally children of the Sun and the Earth. Everything that happens on earth is a combination of energy and material from the Sun and the Earth.

"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth, are never alone or weary of life." ~Rachel Carson