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Earth

And Earth shall be the Sun’s third child and second daughter. And Atlas shall shoulder Earth around the Sun and propel her forward at thirty kilometers each second. And it shall take Earth three-hundred-and-sixty-five-and-one-quarter days to make one revolution. And one complete revolution shall constitute a year. Thus three-hundred-and-sixty-five days shall be a year. And every four years shall one extra day be added to account for the four quarter-days left out. And such a three-hundred-and-sixty-six-day year shall be called a leap year.
     The distance between the Earth and Sun shall be one-hundred-and-fifty-million kilometers, or ninety-three-million miles. One astronomical unit shall be this Earth-Sun distance.

Chapter II: Size and Weight

Now thirteen-thousand kilometers shall be the diameter of Earth.²⁷² But the size of the Earth shall be insignificant compared to the Sun, for the volume of the Sun shall be more than a million times the volume of the Earth. Now the mass of Earth shall be six-trillion-trillion kilograms. But Earth’s mass shall be insignificant compared with Sun’s, for three-hundred-and-thirty-thousand times more mass shall have the Sun.

Chapter III: Spin Effects

Now Earth shall spin from west to east. And in twenty-four hours shall Earth complete one turn. Such a turn shall constitute a day. Thus twenty-four hours shall be a day. Now to ye on the Earth, the turning of Earth shall make it seem like the stars in heavens turn. And like the viewpoint of a child on a merry-go-round, the world shall spin and the surroundings shall revolve. Thus the heavens shall turn from east to west. And this shall make Sun rise and set one time at day. Likewise shall the Moon and stars rotate at night. They shall all rise in the east and all set in the west.
     Now the side of Earth facing to the Sun shall be lit by it. And the other side, in contrast, shall be dark. As Earth spins, the side that was in darkness shall become the side that is in light. And the side that was in sunlight shall become the side that is in darkness. And ye on the dark side shall call this darkness night. And since Earth spins, day shall follow night as night does follow day, like unto a cat chasing its own tail. Both nighttime and daytime shall last a half-a-day.

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     Now the spin-axis of Earth shall tilt twenty-three degrees with respect to the solar-system plane. Thus for a quarter of the year, the northern half of Earth shall tilt toward the Sun, causing Sun’s rays to fall perpendicular onto the regions in the northern hemisphere. And warmer shall this be. And summer shall this be, for ye living in the northern hemisphere. Now summer shall be followed by a quarter-year interval of time in which neither the northern nor the southern hemispheres tilt toward the Sun. And the rays of Sun shall fall perpendicular in the equatorial region of the Earth. And autumn shall this be. Next autumn shall be followed by a quarter-year in which the southern hemisphere shall tilt toward the Sun, causing Sun’s rays to fall perpendicular onto the regions in the southern hemisphere. And the northern hemisphere shall thus be cool. And winter shall this be. Then winter shall be followed by a quarter-year in which neither the northern nor the southern hemispheres tilt toward the Sun. And the rays of Sun shall again fall perpendicular in the equatorial region of the Earth. This shall be spring. And summer, autumn, winter, spring shall be the Earth’s four seasons.
     Now when the northern half of Earth tilts toward the Sun, the southern hemisphere shall tilt away. Thus it shall be winter in the southern hemisphere when it is summer in the north. And when the northern half of Earth tilts away from Sun, the southern hemisphere shall tilt toward the Sun. Thus it shall be summer in the southern hemisphere when it is winter in the north.
     As Earth moves around the Sun in outer space, the dark side of Earth shall face the different parts of heaven. Thus the collection of stars in the black of night shall change: the constellations of the winter shall be different from the constellations of the summer; likewise for the constellations of the autumn and the spring. But the dark side of Earth shall point in the same direction at the same time of the year. Thus the constellations ye see this winter shall be the constellations ye saw last winter and shall be the constellations ye will see next winter too. And likewise for the other seasons. Earth’s motion round the Sun shall produce the seasonal rotation of the constellations.
     Since the planets of the solar system move in a common plane, they shall appear to thee on Earth to move in a narrow strip of nighttime sky – the zodiac. Sometimes over a period of months, the planets, against the backdrop of the stars, shall appear to thee on Earth to zigzag back and forth. And this shall be an illusion created by the motion of the Earth around the Sun, for the planets shall move in an obedient manner and in conformity with Kepler’s laws.

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Chapter IV: Structure

Now the outer part of Earth shall be Earth’s crust, a layer of dirt and rock several dozen kilometers in width. Below the crust shall be the mantle, three-thousand kilometers thick and containing two-thirds of the mass of Earth. And Earth’s temperature shall initially rise rapidly with depth, so that at a few hundred kilometers below the surface, it shall be one-thousand-and-five-hundred Kelvins hot. Now below the mantle shall be the core, the inner sphere of Earth. And at the core-mantle interface, the pressure shall be great – one-and-one-half-million atmospheres. Now the core shall have two parts: an inner and an outer core. The latter, a liquid shell two-thousand kilometers in width with almost one-third of Earth’s mass, shall consist of molten iron-nickel alloys. Electric currents in this liquid shall manufacture Earth’s magnetic field. The inner core with a radius of one-and-a-half-thousand kilometers shall be subjected to enormous pressures, which shall render it a solid sphere of iron. And at Earth’s center shall the pressure reach three-million-seven-hundred-thousand atmospheres. There, the temperature shall be six-thousand Kelvins – as hot as the Sun’s surface.
     Thus the interior of the Earth shall be like unto Hell – the heat shall be intense – if ye were there, thy bodily flesh would instantly be blackened to a crisp; at the same time, a great pressure would crush thy bones into a set of tiny stones.

Chapter V: Earth’s Atmosphere

Now seventy-eight and twenty-one shall be the percentages of nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. Trace amounts of other molecules such as carbon dioxide gas and water-vapor shall play vital roles. Water-droplets and tiny ices shall often form white structures --these shall be called clouds. Now the pressure of the atmosphere at the surface of the Earth shall be one atmosphere by definition: One-hundred-thousand Pascals, or fifteen pounds per square inch, shall be one atmosphere.
     Starting at one-hundred-kilometers above the surface of the Earth, the atmosphere shall thin into the thermosphere. Atoms of oxygen shall mostly make up the seven-hundred-kilometer-thick thermosphere. And when a high-energy ultraviolet ray or X-ray from the Sun does enter the Earth’s thermosphere, the ray shall strike with an electron in an atom. And when the electron absorbs the ray, it shall be ejected from the atom. Subsequently, it shall be captured by an atom which is positively charged; in doing so, the electron shall release some energy as light. Thus the thermosphere shall absorb all radiations of high-energy, thereby heating it.²⁷³ Now this absorption of high-energy electromagnetic radiation shall prevent such lethal radiation from striking the Earth’s surface. But lethal lower-energy ultraviolet rays shall still pass through the thermosphere and reach the upper atmosphere. Such rays shall be absorbed by small amounts of ozone fifty-kilometers above the Earth. How shall this work? When an ozone molecule is struck by an ultraviolet ray, it shall absorb the ultraviolet energy and separate into one atom and one molecule of oxygen.²⁷⁴ Then the atom of oxygen shall recombine with a molecule of oxygen to produce harmless electromagnetic waves and an ozone molecule. Thus ozone, like the thermosphere, shall shield the surface of the Earth from lethal solar radiation.

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     Now the atmosphere at eighty kilometers above the Earth shall contain mostly positively charged molecules and negatively charged electrons. The ionosphere shall be this region of the atmosphere.²⁷⁵
     Now the Earth’s magnetic field shall form a giant magnetosphere twenty-thousand kilometers in radius. And the magnetosphere shall deflect around the Earth most solar-wind charged particles. But some high-speed protons and electrons shall get trapped in the magnetic field and spiral in donut-shaped orbits called Van Allen belts.

Chapter VI: Topography

Now the Earth shall not be perfectly spherical. Some regions shall rise up above surrounding regions, while others shall sink down. And depressed regions shall collect with water. And a large water region shall be called an ocean. Earth shall have four major oceans – the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the partially frozen Arctic Ocean. And of Earth’s surface, seventy-one percent shall be covered by more than a billion cubic kilometers of water. Now an elevated region shall, in general, be dry. And a small isolated land-mass surrounded by a sea shall be an island, while a large dry land shall be a continent. Earth shall have seven major continents – Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia, Antarctica and Africa. And in some spots, land shall have risen or been pushed to several thousand meters high. Such a high land-mass shall be a mountain. And a volcano shall be a funnel-shaped mountain created by molten rock, which has thrust up through the earth. And occasionally volcanos shall erupt, spewing smoke and spilling lava. Now other parts of continents shall be flat. A level land shall be a plain. All continents shall contain water-bearing narrow crevices. And these shall be Earth’s rivers. They shall carry water off and drain the continents. Rivers flowing from high to low elevations shall eventually find seas and oceans. A riverless rainless region shall be a desert. Thus Nature through natural processes shall have given the surface of the Earth a great variety of forms and structures.

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     And viewed from outer space, Earth shall be beautiful. Blue shall be the oceans. White shall be the polar caps. Brown, green and gray shall be the continents. White shall be the clouds – they shall paint the Earth a saintly white.²⁷⁶

Chapter VII: Tectonics

Now the upper layer of the Earth shall be forever changing. The crust shall be broken into several large tectonic plates that tile the Earth. And the plates, fifty to one-hundred kilometers in thickness, shall constitute Earth’s lithosphere. Now there shall be eleven major plates: the Eurasian plate, the Indian-Australian plate, the African plate, the Arabian plate, the North American plate, the South American plate, the Nazca plate, the Pacific plate, the Caribbean plate, the Cocos plate and the Antarctic plate. The Nazca plate shall be in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, and north of it shall be the Cocos plate. In addition to the major plates, there shall be several smaller plates.
     These plates shall float upon the solid mantle like unto giant icebergs on a sea. And they shall bump against each other at the boundaries. And over centuries, the plates shall move about in miniscule amounts. But over tens of millions of years, their motions shall be significant.
     Two plates in contact shall either converge, diverge or slip. When two converge, they shall thrust up Earth’s crust and create great mountain ranges. When they diverge, the lithosphere shall be torn apart, leaving hot molten mantle to rise up to fill the void. Such a magma upward thrust shall manufacture a volcanic ridge. And the submerged ridge in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean, which stretches for thousands of kilometers and is created by the divergence of the North American and Eurasian plates, shall be an example. Now when two plates at a boundary are slipping, there shall be a region of great seismic action. If a slip should suddenly occur, the earth shall shake. And this shall be an earthquake.²⁷⁷

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²⁷⁶ This picture of Earth as viewed from outer space shall compete with the finest works of abstract art for beauty and impression.
²⁷⁷ The slipping that occurs along the San Andreas fault at the border of the Pacific and North American plates is an example.

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Chapter VIII: Air Currents

And let it be known to thee and all around thee that hot air expands. And in expanding, lighter it becomes. And let it be known that lighter air rises for the same reason that a hot-air balloon does rise – it is buoyant. And let it be known that cold air contracts and becomes heavier. And being heavier, it sinks, for it is not as buoyant – like a bar of lead in water.
     Now the Sun shall not uniformly heat the Earth. And the variation in heating of the Earth and Earth’s spinning shall generate general wind patterns by causing air to rise, sink and rotate.
     Now because the equatorial region is the hottest, air there shall rise. And cooler air shall take its place and sweep in from below. Now half the rising hot air at the equator shall move north. And as it moves north, it shall cool. And eventually it shall become cooler than the air below. And at a latitude of thirty degrees, it shall sink. And after sinking, it shall move south along the surface of the Earth. And it shall warm as it moves south. And when it reaches the equator, it shall become warmer than the air above. So it shall rise again. Thus this air shall circulate in a great oval.
     And the other half of the equatorial hot rising air shall southward move. And it shall eventually cool and sink at a latitude of thirty degrees in the southern hemisphere. Then it shall move north along the surface of the Earth, warming as it reaches the equator, where it shall complete the circuit.
     Thus there shall be winds which blow toward the equator at the surface of the Earth. And the winds above these winds shall blow away from the equator.
     And because the north and south poles are cold, air there shall sink. Such sinking air shall push the air beneath it, forcing it toward the Earth’s equator. In the northern hemisphere, the pushed air shall move south along the surface of the Earth. While moving south, it shall warm until it reaches a longitude of sixty degrees where it shall be warmer than the air above. Then it shall rise. And after rising, it shall move northward to the north pole to fill the space vacated by downward moving cooler air. So air shall circulate in a great oval in the arctic north.

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     And the same shall happen in the southern hemisphere: Cold air shall sink at the southern pole, move north to sixty degrees longitude, where it shall warm and rise and then move south to replace at the southern pole descending cooler air. So air shall circulate in a great oval in the antarctic south.
     Thus there shall be surface winds which blow toward the equator in the arctic north and the antarctic south. And the winds above these winds shall blow away from the equator.
     Now between thirty and sixty degrees longitude, air shall also circulate in a great oval: Some of the air, which rises at a longitude of sixty degrees in the northern hemisphere shall move south instead of north. At high altitude shall this air flow until it meets the descending air coming from the equator at thirty degrees longitude. And this air from the north then also shall descend. From there, it shall move northward to a longitude of sixty degrees where it shall rise up.
     And the same thing shall happen in the southern hemisphere.
     Thus between thirty and sixty degrees longitude, both in the northern and the southern hemispheres, there shall be surface winds which blow away from the equator. And the winds above these winds shall blow toward the Earth’s equator.
     And let it be known to thee and all around thee that the spin of the Earth shall cause the winds to swerve to the east and to the west.
     And if thou be on a merry-go-round, turning counter-clockwise, and thou throw a ball, it shall appear to swerve toward your right. And this shall be an illusion because Newton’s first law says that an object in motion shall move in a straight line unless compelled to change so by a force. But no horizontal force does act upon the ball. And so the ball does travel in a line. And it is thou who thus art turning. And it is thy perspective that is changing: The curving motion of the ball is thy illusion.
     And the spinning of a merry-go-round shall be like unto the spinning of the Earth. Since observers on the Earth move with the Earth, they, like riders on a merry-go-round, shall go round and round. Thus the motion of the air along the surface of the Earth shall swerve. And air moving away from the poles and toward the Earth’s equator shall swerve to the west. And air moving away from the Earth’s equator and to the poles shall swerve to the east.
     And since surface winds in the equatorial zone move toward the Earth’s equator, they shall also move toward the west. And they shall constitute an east wind since they come from the east – they shall be the easterly trade winds.
     And since surface winds between thirty and sixty degrees longitude move away from the equator, they shall swerve to the east. And they shall constitute a west wind since they come from the west – they shall be the prevailing westerlies.
     And since the surface winds in the polar regions move toward the Earth’s equator, they shall swerve to the west. And they shall constitute an east wind since they come from the east – they shall be the polar easterlies.

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     And where easterly and westerly zones do meet, winds shall swirl in cyclones.
     Now when the winds encounter mountains, they shall be forced to rise. And when the winds encounter valleys, they shall sink into the valleys. Thus the topography of Earth shall affect the movement of the winds.

Chapter IX: Weather

And air descending through the atmosphere shall constitute a high-pressure region because the air shall push down more. And upward moving air shall constitute a low-pressure region because the air shall push down less. Now upward moving air shall generally carry moisture into the cooler higher atmosphere. And such moisture shall condense in clouds. So low-pressure regions shall have clouds and rain and storms.
     Earth’s moderately thick atmosphere, clouds, oceans, continents, polar caps, air movements and surface topography shall yield a variety of weather. In some regions, usually associated with high pressure, it shall be cloudless and be sunny. And in other regions, it shall be overcast. In low-pressure regions shall the clouds be dense. And often shall these clouds let loose their moisture. And water droplets falling from the clouds shall be called rain. In colder regions shall crystals of water fall instead – as snow. Now the high- and low-pressure regions and the clouds shall move, diminish and intensify and lead to ever-changing weather. And sometimes, strong circulating winds and dark thick clouds shall form a hurricane, in which the winds shall blow more than one-hundred kilometers per hour.
     Now a front shall be the interface between cold and warm air-masses. And warm moist air shall rise, lifting its water vapor up into the atmosphere. And it shall pass over and beyond the cold-air mass. Now the moist air, when it meets the colder air, shall condense to water droplets. And the droplets shall fall to Earth as rain. If the cold-air mass is advancing under the warm-air mass, then this shall be a cold front. And as the cold front passes, the temperature shall drop. If the cold-air mass is retreating so that the warm-air mass is advancing over the cold-air mass, then this shall be a warm front. And as the warm front passes, the temperature shall rise. At cold and warm fronts, rainy weather shall arise.
     And sometimes the dynamics of Earth’s atmosphere shall make a thunderstorm. The flash of electric current through the atmosphere shall be called lightning. And lightning shall produce a crack of strong deep sound, which ye call thunder. And the energy released during a thunderstorm and the energy released from a twenty-kiloton atomic warhead shall on average be the same. And fortunately the fallout shall be rain, not radioactive elements.

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     Now surface winds shall move the weather systems east or west, depending on the longitude. And for example, between thirty and sixty degrees longitude, weather systems shall move from west to east, as they follow the prevailing westerlies.
     And warm rising air near Earth’s equator, which carries the moisture in the oceans upward, shall make the rainfall heavy there. These equatorial land regions shall constitute the tropical rain forests.
     And let it be known that continents reflect and radiate their heat relatively quickly, and that oceans absorb and radiate their heat relatively slowly. Hence the temperature above the continents shall vary more than the temperature above the oceans. And air over oceans shall be more humid than the air above the continents. As a consequence, lands with ocean winds flowing over them shall have moist mild weather. And for example, England and Vancouver, although far north, shall have such moist and mild climates. But northeastern North America and eastern China, although near oceans, shall have drier climates with large seasonal temperature variations since, there, the prevailing westerlies produce winds originating over continents.
     And clouds shall block sunrays. Thus a cloudy day shall be cooler than a sunny day. But clouds shall also help retain the heat of Earth. Thus the mornings after cloudy nights shall be warmer than the mornings after cloudless nights.
     Now the general features of weather, which follow from the principles of physics and fluid mechanics, shall be easy to understand and to predict. But detailed weather forecasting shall be difficult, for Earth’s topography and atmosphere are enormous and complex.

Chapter X: The Mother of Life

Now the land, oceans and atmosphere shall provide a special environment for living organisms. And of all Sun’s children, Earth shall be unique in harboring a wealth of living organisms. Earth shall be the mother of solar-system life. Now a living organism shall be a self-organizing complex structure made from countless carbon-hydrogen-oxygen organic molecules.²⁷⁸ And although there shall be an enormous variety of life forms, there shall be but two basic macroscopic types: plants and animals. Plants shall utilize the energy of sunlight, and in the process yield oxygen for the Earth’s atmosphere. And animals shall exhibit many different characteristics and abilities, among which shall be the capacity to move. And remarkably, animals shall appear to be in control of their mobility.

Pray ye a prayer for Earth.

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²⁷⁸ See the New Testament Book of Biology.