My Science School

What are metals?

Metals are one of the major groups of elements. Most of them are shiny and hard. Mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at normal temperatures. Most metals can be bent and stretched, and they can be mixed to make alloys.

Metals are usually found with other elements in the form of compounds. Bauxite is an ore, or mixture of substances, that contains aluminium, the commonest metal. It makes up about eight percent of the Earth’s crust. Osmium is the heaviest metal, and is twice as heavy as lead. Lithium is the lightest metal. It is half the weight of the sane volume of water, so it floats in water.

How much of the Earth is covered by water?

More than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered by seas and oceans. About 72 percent of the Earth’s surface is water. This water is either in the oceans, locked away as ice at the poles, or held as water vapour in the atmosphere. All of the Earth’s water is known as the hydrosphere. 

Why is the Earth round?

Gravity pulled the Earth and the other planets into a sphere when they were being formed. The Earth is not truly round, but is slightly flattened making it bulge out at the Equator. This effect is due to the speed with which the Earth spins, causing the Equator to try to fly out from the axis of the spinning Earth. It is rather like a heavy object whirling round on the end of a piece of string. The shape of some of the other planets is distorted in the same way.