Ever wondered what’s really happening beneath your feet or why the sky turns those spectacular colors at sunset? With our planet’s mind-boggling diversity, from the deepest ocean trenches to the highest mountain peaks, from scorching deserts to frozen tundras, understanding Earth’s amazing features can feel as challenging as climbing Everest itself! Our Planet Earth trivia collection solves this problem by exploring our home world’s most fascinating secrets in bite-sized questions covering everything from volcanic eruptions to ocean currents. Perfect for sparking curiosity in young minds or testing whether your geography teacher was right all along.
Planet Earth Trivia Questions and Answers
- How many continents are there on Earth?
Answer: 7 - What is the largest ocean on Earth?
Answer: Pacific Ocean - What is the largest desert on Earth?
Answer: Sahara Desert - What percentage of Earth is covered with water?
Answer: About 71% - What is the tallest mountain on Earth?
Answer: Mount Everest - What is the name of the imaginary line that runs around the middle of the Earth?
Answer: The Equator - What is the largest animal on Earth?
Answer: Blue Whale - What is the innermost layer of the Earth called?
Answer: The Inner Core - What gas do plants take in from the air that humans breathe out?
Answer: Carbon Dioxide - What gas do humans need to breathe from the air?
Answer: Oxygen - What is the largest rainforest on Earth?
Answer: Amazon Rainforest - Which two oceans does the Panama Canal connect?
Answer: Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean - What is the name of the layer of air that surrounds the Earth?
Answer: Atmosphere - What is the deepest ocean trench on Earth?
Answer: Mariana Trench - What is the largest country on Earth by land area?
Answer: Russia - What layer of the Earth do we live on?
Answer: The Crust - What causes ocean tides on Earth?
Answer: The gravitational pull of the Moon - What is the largest island on Earth?
Answer: Greenland - What is the name of the hot liquid rock that flows from volcanoes?
Answer: Lava - What is the lowest point on Earth’s land?
Answer: Dead Sea - Which gas makes up the majority of Earth’s atmosphere?
Answer: Nitrogen - What do you call a scientist who studies earthquakes?
Answer: Seismologist - How many layers does the Earth have?
Answer: Four (crust, mantle, outer core, inner core) - What is the largest living structure on Earth?
Answer: The Great Barrier Reef - What do you call the place where a river meets the ocean?
Answer: An Estuary - What is the name for a huge mass of ice that moves slowly over land?
Answer: Glacier - What type of rock is formed from cooling lava or magma?
Answer: Igneous rock - What is the name for the study of earthquakes?
Answer: Seismology - What causes a rainbow to appear in the sky?
Answer: Sunlight reflecting and refracting through water droplets - What is the name for a flat area of land consisting mainly of grasses?
Answer: Plains or Grasslands - What powerful storm is called a “typhoon” in Asia and a “hurricane” in North America?
Answer: Tropical cyclone - What are the plates that form Earth’s outer shell called?
Answer: Tectonic plates - In what layer of the Earth is magma found?
Answer: The Mantle - What is the study of plants called?
Answer: Botany - What causes the northern lights or aurora borealis?
Answer: Solar particles colliding with gases in Earth’s atmosphere - What is the name of Earth’s only natural satellite?
Answer: The Moon - What is the process where water changes from liquid to vapor called?
Answer: Evaporation - What is the main gas that causes the “greenhouse effect” on Earth?
Answer: Carbon dioxide - What is the longest river on Earth?
Answer: The Nile River - What is the hottest place on Earth?
Answer: Lut Desert in Iran - What is the driest place on Earth?
Answer: The Atacama Desert - What type of rock is made from layers of sediment pressed together?
Answer: Sedimentary rock - What do scientists call a giant wave caused by an earthquake under the ocean?
Answer: Tsunami - What is the name for the process by which plants make their food using sunlight?
Answer: Photosynthesis - What are the valleys on the ocean floor called?
Answer: Trenches - What is the third planet from the sun?
Answer: Earth - What is the cycle of water moving from Earth to the atmosphere and back again called?
Answer: The water cycle - What are the three main types of rock?
Answer: Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic - What is happening when a volcano erupts?
Answer: Magma from inside the Earth erupts to the surface as lava - What are the frozen areas at the North and South Poles called?
Answer: The Arctic and Antarctic - What is the most abundant element in the Earth’s atmosphere?
Answer: Nitrogen - What is the circular movement of water in the ocean called?
Answer: Ocean current - What is the deepest lake in the world?
Answer: Lake Baikal - What is the nickname of Earth?
Answer: The Blue Planet - What is the coldest place on Earth?
Answer: East Antarctic Plateau - What is the process of rocks breaking down into smaller pieces called?
Answer: Weathering - What is the Earth’s only continent that’s also a country?
Answer: Australia - What is the boundary where two tectonic plates slide past each other called?
Answer: Transform boundary - What is the layer of Earth’s atmosphere closest to the ground?
Answer: Troposphere - What is the wettest place on Earth with highest average annual rainfall?
Answer: Mawsynram, India - What percentage of Earth’s oxygen is produced by the ocean?
Answer: About 70% - What is the smallest ocean on Earth?
Answer: Arctic Ocean - What type of clouds form very high in the sky and look like thin, wispy strands?
Answer: Cirrus clouds - What is the soft, fertile soil that is great for growing plants called?
Answer: Loam - What is the approximate age of Earth?
Answer: 4.54 billion years - What is the temperature of the Earth’s inner core?
Answer: About 5,200 degrees Celsius (9,392 degrees Fahrenheit) - What is the scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes?
Answer: Richter scale - What is the process of soil being carried away by water or wind called?
Answer: Erosion - Which gas in the atmosphere protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays?
Answer: Ozone - What is the second largest ocean on Earth?
Answer: Atlantic Ocean - What is the tallest waterfall on Earth?
Answer: Angel Falls - What is the Pangaea?
Answer: A supercontinent that existed 335-175 million years ago - What is the name for rocks that have changed form due to heat and pressure?
Answer: Metamorphic rocks - What is the pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench?
Answer: About 1,086 bars (15,750 psi) - What is the largest type of land biome on Earth?
Answer: Forests - What contains the most freshwater on Earth?
Answer: Glaciers and ice caps - What is the study of the Earth’s physical structure and substance called?
Answer: Geology - What is the process where water vapor changes directly to ice called?
Answer: Deposition - What is the second tallest mountain on Earth?
Answer: K2 - What is the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust?
Answer: Aluminum - What name is given to the boundary between tectonic plates where new crust is formed?
Answer: Divergent boundary - What is the speed of Earth’s rotation at the equator?
Answer: About 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km per hour) - What is the Earth’s average distance from the Sun?
Answer: About 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) - What is the mineral with a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale?
Answer: Diamond - What is the main gas in natural gas?
Answer: Methane - What is the time it takes for Earth to make one complete orbit around the Sun?
Answer: 365.25 days - What percentage of the Earth’s land surface is desert?
Answer: About 33% - What is the largest river by volume of water in the world?
Answer: Amazon River