02/26/05 - 6:34 PM EST

The Earth is a planet made up of many living, and non-living, organims. Earth is called a terrestrial planet, meaning "Earth-like". Earth is covered 3/4 by water. It may seem like we have alot of land, but compared to the water mass we're nowhere near as much as we like to think. Earth experiences 4 seasons: Winter, Fall, Summer, and Spring. Winter is much like a "dead" time of year. During Winter plants die, animals go into hibernation and many people stay in the warmth of their own homes. Fall is a time in the year for change. Leaves change colors, people change the way they dress and the grass and everything starts to turn discolored. Summer is the warmer time of year because of how the earth is positioned for this part of the planet with the Sun. Spring is a time of "rebirth". Plants start to come in bloom and come back alive during this time and animals start to come out of hibernation.

02/26/05 - 6:39 PM EST

The Earth is the 3rd planet in the Galaxy. The Galaxy that I am referring to is called the Milky Way. The Milky Way is one of Hundreds, maybe even more, Galaxies. In the Milky Way there are the following planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus and Pluto. All of these planets orbit around what we call The Sun, which is located in the direct center of the Milky Way.

02/26/05 - 6:45 PM EST

What is a Nebula? It is a cloud of gas and dust probably cast off from other stars that used to live in this region of our galaxy.The Nebular Theory talks about how the Sun is 99% of all the mass of the solar system. The Nebula is also the birthplace of our Solar System. This theory is the idea that the Solar System evolved from this swirling cloud of dust.

02/26/05 - 6:58 PM EST

Like the Earth, the Sun has a layered structure. Those layers come in this order: The Core, The Radioactive Zone, and The Convection Zone. From the Earth, the Sun appears to be a white, glowing ball of light. The different layers of the sun have different purposes. The Core is where nuclear fusion occurs, it also happens to be the source of all the energy the Sun emits. The energy travels out of the Core, through the Radioactive Zone and then through the Convection Zone. After that it reaches the Sun's outer layers. The visible surface of the Sun is called The Photosphere, the part that produces the Sun's ultraviolet radiation is called The Chromosphere, and the superheated uppermost layer of it's surface is called The Corona.

02/26/05 - 7:10 PM EST

This Pull between the Earth and the Moon is very strong. The stretching of the Earth-Moon line is called "Earth tide". The water in the oceans is stetched much to the same degree as the Earth and Moon stretching. This stretching effect is greater than that in the Earth because water flows more easily than the rock in the Earth's interior. The buldges are called ocean tide and they are what create high and low tides. The pull of the Sun also effects tides. Even the the Sun has much greater mass than the Moon, it's tidal effect is not as great, and that is due to alot further distance away from Earth. The changing relative of the Sun, Moon and Earth cause varitations in high and low tides.

02/26/05 - 7:18 PM EST

There are many things that happen on our Solar System that effect our planet. Some of those things are Asteroids, Meteors, Meteorites, and Comets. Many of these happen every year. Astonomers think that asteroids at least 1 km diameter hit Earth every few hundred million years. They base this on the number of impact craters that have been found and dated on the planet. Most scientists, but not all, believe that this was the cause of the extinction of the Dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. The radiation in the Solar System effetcs Earth in many ways. A few examples of that would be people getting sun burnt, the change in temp., and maybe the cancer rating on the planet each year. Radiation is used in many ways. It can also harm, or effect, you in many ways.

02/26/05 - 7:24 PM EST

Comets are masses of frozen gases, ices, and rocky dust particels. They are like asteroids in the sense they are leftovers from the formation of the Solar System. The reason they have "tails" on the end of them is caused by them going towards the Sun and the heat from it blowing all the dust and everything into the opposite direction from the Sun. Comets have collided into the Earth since it's earliest formation. It is said that the comets ices melted and helped form the Earth's oceans. When Comets and Asteroids collide with the Earth they leave things called craters, which look like deep indentions in the Earth's surface.