The Earth is GIGANTIC

Subtitles

The Earth is gigantic. But no

one really seems to understand

just how gigantic it really is.

This often leads to all sorts

of strange convoluted ideas about

what the Earth looks like and

how it works.

The diameter of Earth is around

12,742 kilometers or 7,918 miles

making a circumference of 40,030

kilometers or 24,874 miles. But

there's a big problem...what does

this even mean? Who even knows

what 40 thousand kilometers is?

It's a large number...and that's

about where it ends.

But, fortunately, the video

does not end here because the

Earth is gigantic more than you

can believe.

But in order to get a better

idea about the scale of the Earth,

we're going to need to increase

our dimensions.

This is any average person standing

on the Earth near sea level. Looking

across the Earth at eye level

you'll see something like this.

From this perspective it is impossible

to get any idea of how big the

Earth is other than just "big".

But maybe removing some of the

visual obstacles will help. Eh,

that still looks pretty flat.

Well anyway, if we ascend to the

tops of the trees...it looks pretty

much the same. Even at the very

top of the Burj Khalifa (the tallest

building in the world), there's

not much more to see, with the

exception of a few distant mountains.

Ascending to the tops of the mountains...

there's still no clear reference

for the size of the Earth. Even

removing the visual obstacles

for a clear view of the horizon,

the curvature is minimal. I think

it's clear at this point that...

the Earth is rather large. Ascending

to the cruising altitude of airliners,

the Earth still looks remarkably flat.

But this should come as no surprise

for the reason that...the Earth's

design is absolutely gigantic.

At 100 kilometers (the border

of space), the curvature is now

quite visible. But even in space

the Earth appears to extend on

for quite some time. Likely because

it's gigantic. Anyway, if we ascend

to over four times this altitude,

we'll find the International

Space Station. At this point,

we can clearly see the curvature

of the Earth. But, even four times

farther than the edge of space

you can still only see a small

section of the Earth. Here's the

thing, though. We're 4 times farther

than the border of space but,

if we take a bit more than a step

back, we can see that we aren't

actually that far above the Earth.

It almost looks as if we're only

a few dozen kilometers above the

Earth, not several hundred. Looking

at the cruising altitude of airliners

from this perspective, it's easy

to see why the Earth was looking

so flat when we were at that altitude.

Viewing the entire Earth certainly

gives a different perspective!

Speaking of viewing the entire Earth.

This is Mt. Everest. Oh what,

you don't see it? Well...it's

right here. Not like...in the

real world but I mean like...that's

where it is here...or...I mean

it's not like actually...

Even viewing it in 8k you can

barely see it! And, in reality,

it'd be even more difficult to see Mt.

Everest because of all the other

mountains surrounding it.

And, while we're looking at

the entire Earth, we might as

well try traveling around it.

Walking around the Earth would

take a full year. Obviously ignoring

the water and whatever other obstacles

you may encounter. Driving around

the Earth at standard highway

speeds would take around 2 weeks

of continuous driving. Again ignoring

any obstacles. Flying around the

Earth in an airliner would take

2 full days. Even traveling around

the Earth at the speed of sound

would take 32 hours! But you might

actually be traveling faster than

this right now!

The Earth is so large that,

despite taking nearly 24 hours

to make one full rotation, anyone

near the equator will be traveling

1674 kilometers per hour or Mach 1.3!

Well except that the Earth is

also orbiting the Sun and the

Sun is orbiting the Milkyway and the...

But at least the air is moving

along with you so that you're

not being faced with supersonic winds.

Oh and, fun fact, because of the

Earth's spin and its shape you

actually weigh less at the equator

than at the poles. Your mass is

still the same, it's just your

weight is less. But the change

in weight is very negligible,

so you'll likely never know.

Anyway, Earth has a surface

area of 51 billion hectares. This

means that if every person on

the Earth were spaced out with

equal distances from everyone

else, each person would have over

6 hectares entirely for themselves!

Well except nearly 71% of Earth

is covered with water. But, even

only counting the surface area

of the land, each person would

have over 1.8 hectares all to

themselves. Well...and probably

some animals, trees, rocks, and

whatever else.

Ok, but let's try scaling everything

down a bit. If you were half the

height of a grain of sand, the

Earth would be about the height

of 450 houses or about the depth

of the Grand Canyon or more than

twice the height of the Burj Khalifa!

Speaking of the Burj Khalifa,

at this scale, the Burj Khalifa

would be about the height of a

lightbulb. Mt. Everest would be

only a little taller than a trash bin.

And, despite many people thinking

the moon isn't nearly as big as it is.

At this scale, the Moon would

be taller than the Empire State

Building. Remember, you are half

the height of a grain of sand.

Oh, and the Sun at this scale

would extend two times farther

than the edge of space!