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The blue spheres represent all of Earth's water, Earth's liquid freshwater, and water in lakes and rivers.
Diameter of Water Blue Droplets" Biggest = 860 mile diameter Middle = 169.5 mile diameter Smallest = 34.9 mile diameter The image of the earth shows blue spheres representing relative amounts of water in comparison to the size of the earth. Are you surprised that these water spheres look so small? They are only small in relation to the size of the earth. These images attempt to show three dimensions, so each sphere represents "volume." They show that in comparison to the volume of the globe, the amount of water on the planet is very small. Oceans account for only a "thin film" of water on the surface. The spheres represent all of Earth's water, Earth's liquid freshwater, and water in lakes and rivers. The largest sphere represents all of Earth's water. Its diameter is 860 miles (the distance from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Topeka, Kansas) and has a volume of about 332,500,000 mi.³. This sphere includes all the water in the oceans, icecaps, lakes, rivers, groundwater, atmospheric water, and even the water in you, your dog, and your tomato plant. If the big bubble burst: if you put a big pin to the largest bubble showing total water, the resulting flow would cover the contiguous United States to a depth of about 107 miles. Liquid fresh water: How much of the total water is freshwater, which people and many other life forms need to survive? The blue sphere over Kentucky represents the worlds liquid freshwater (groundwater, lakes, swamp water, and rivers). The diameter of this sphere is about 169.5 miles.The volume comes to about 2,551,100 mi.³, of which 99% is groundwater, much of which is not accessible to humans. Water in lakes and rivers: Do you notice the tiny bubble over Atlanta, Georgia? That one represents freshwater in all the lakes and rivers on the planet. Most of the water people and life on earth need every day comes from these surface – water sources. The volume of this sphere is about 22,339 mi.³. The diameter of this sphere is about 34.9 miles. Yes, Lake Michigan looks way bigger than this, but you have to try to imagine a bubble almost 35 miles high – whereas the average depth of Lake Michigan is less than 300 feet. |
Did You Know This About Earth?
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