Earth Facts

How big is the Earth?

• The total surface area of the Earth is 59,600,000 square kilometres.
   
• The distance right around the Earth at its widest point, the Equator, is about 40,076 kilometres.
   
• The distance from one side of the Earth (straight through the middle) to the other is about 12,756 kilometres.

How old is the Earth?

• Somewhere between 4.8 and 4.5 billion years old.

What is on the surface?

• 71% of the Earth is covered by water, the rest by land.

Additional info

• Democritus (460-370BC) believed that the Earth was an oblong.
   
• Archelaud (5th century BC) thought it was disc-shaped and hollow in the middle.