The earth is a rock factory. Scientists believe it has been making rocks for billions of years. The earth makes three different kinds of rocks. One kind is made from hot, syrupy liquids, deep inside...
Lands of ice
Two parts of the earth are bitter cold all year round. These places are the "top" and the "bottom" of the earth---the North Pole and South Pole. The land around the South Pole is called Antarctica....
Open country
All over the earth there are great flat places. The level or gently rolling land goes on for miles (kilometers). These flat parts of the earth are called plains. Most plains are lower than the land...
Mountains of fire
A volcano is a special kind of mountain that actually builds itself! It is made of red-hot rock that pours up out of the earth amid earthquakes, explosions, and towering clouds of smoke and ash. ...
Giant rocks
Mountains are like great, gray giants. They are huge chunks of rock that have been pushed up out of the earth. Some mountains stand all alone, but most are connected together. Long chains of...
The moving continents
It may seem to you that the earth's crust is a single piece of rock. You may think this crust covers the outside of the earth just as an apple's skin covers an apple. But the earth's crust is...
The outside of the earth
We live on the surface of the earth. The surface, or crust of the earth, is made of rock. In some places, it is covered with soil. In many places, it is covered with water. All around it is air. ...
What’s inside the earth?
Could you dig a hole to the other side of the earth? No, you couldn't. The center of the earth is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) beneath your feet. So, it's almost 8,000 miles (13,000...
How was the earth born?
Why is the earth shaped like a ball? Why isn't it shaped like a block? Or why isn't it round and flat, like a pie? Why does it spin? And why does it whirl around and around the sun? Most scientists...
Around and around the sun
The earth doesn't just spin---it also moves through space. Right this very moment, the earth is rushing through space at tremendous speed---more than 66,000 miles (106,000 kilometers) an hour. It...