Earth is our home planet.
It’s the only planet not named after a god. Instead, its name comes from an old German word that means dirt. Everything about Earth is just right to support life as we know it. It’s the right distance from the Sun for water to stay liquid, rather than freeze or turn to gas. All life as we know it needs water. Earth also has oxygen, another thing life needs.
Earth’s atmosphere is made up of nitrogen and oxygen. It protects us from the Sun’s dangerous radiation. It also keeps the ground temperature from getting too hot or too cold.
Over the last few decades, Earth’s temperature has gone up. Two causes of that are pollution and people using resources wastefully. This has created something called global warming. If it doesn’t end, it may upset the balance that allows life on Earth.
