The Earth is shaped like a gigantic ball, slightly squashed at the top and bottom. Around its middle, where it’s fattest, it measures 40,075 kilometres. It would take you almost a year to walk right round the Earth, without a rest.
What are the continents?
The Earth’s rocky crust is cracked into several gigantic pieces and lots of smaller chunks. The large pieces contain the seven continents – Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. Which of the continents do you live on?
What’s inside the Earth?
The Earth is made up of layers of rock and metal. We live on the hard, rocky surface, called the crust. Below, the layers are so hot that they’ve melted and turned runny. The centre of the Earth is a ball of almost solid metal.
Amazing! People used to think the Earth was flat. If they sailed too far in one direction, they thought they would fall off the edge!