Background - Global Data
Earth's Solid Ground - The 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 - The 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 - The 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 - The Biosphere
Microbes & Fungi
Microbes and Fungi consume both Plants and animals. 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.
Biosphere - 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.
Microbes & Fungi
Microbes and Fungi consume both Plants and animals. 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.
Biosphere - 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.