3 Planet Earth

Planet Earth

A place in space. You live on Earth, one of the eight planets that move around the Sun. Scientists think that Earth is the only planet with anything living on it.

All About Earth. Things can live on Earth because it has the right mixture of heat, air and water. The Sun keeps the planet warm. Living things — people, animals and plants — all need air to breathe. Over half of the Earth is covered in water. All living things need water to stay alive.

The middle of the planet is called the core. It is very, very hot here. Around the core is the mantle. The rocks here are so hot that they are slightly squishy. The mantle is covered with a thin layer of solid rock, called the crust.

Moving Earth. The Earth's crust is made up of pieces. The pieces of crust slot together around the Earth. Very very slowly, the pieces of crust move around. The place where the pieces slide past each other is called a fault. Pieces of crust can move smoothly along a fault, but sometimes they get jammed.

Jammed pieces can suddenly start to slip past one another. The land above trembles and cracks. This is called an earthquake. Big earthquakes can destroy buildings and tear up roads. There are even 'earthquakes' on the moon. These are called moonquakes.