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Featured articleEarth is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
Featured topic starEarth is part of the Solar System series, a featured topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on April 22, 2010, and on April 22, 2021.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
January 19, 2004 Refreshing brilliant proseKept
January 26, 2004 Featured article candidateNot promoted
July 15, 2005 Featured article candidateNot promoted
December 20, 2005 Good article nomineeListed
July 25, 2006 Featured article candidateNot promoted
September 2, 2006 Articles for deletionSpeedily kept
November 8, 2006 Featured topic candidatePromoted
March 9, 2007 Peer reviewReviewed
April 21, 2007 Featured article candidatePromoted
August 27, 2008 Featured topic candidateNot promoted
November 14, 2020 Featured article reviewKept
June 13, 2021 Featured topic removal candidateDemoted
June 20, 2022 Featured topic candidatePromoted
Current status: Featured article

The lead sucks

For me at least, the lead feels like a bunch of statistics and facts being toss into a bowl of salad. There's no overarching theme or a sense of causality that the reader can follow through. A better lead should be much shorter and be more selective. CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 17:37, 7 January 2024 (UTC) reply

MOS:LEAD suggests that it should be no longer than four paragraphs for longer articles and typically three to four. It also has to summarise the contents of the article, so being shorter and more selective is difficult. Mikenorton ( talk) 22:20, 7 January 2024 (UTC) reply
The lead feels so long and a sore to read. To an another example, Britannica's article about the Earth has a lead that's longer than ours but it is much more pleasant to read because the information is not as disjointed. CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 18:29, 13 January 2024 (UTC) reply
Here's my proposed outline for the new lead, with each bullet point is a paragraph not longer than 125 words as a rule of thumb:
  1. General info, Earth's surface, water and atmosphere
  2. Earth's cycles, inner structure and magnetic field
  3. Earth's orbital, rotational and astronomical properties
  4. Earth's history (with less focus on humans/climate change and more towards other parts of history in general)
CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 18:33, 13 January 2024 (UTC) reply
If you want to understand how the current lead was developed, see this lengthy discussion. Mikenorton ( talk) 18:42, 13 January 2024 (UTC) reply
Thank you so much for the link. Unfortunately I really need to go to sleep now so see you in ~10 hours. CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 18:44, 13 January 2024 (UTC) reply

Should we follow the lead example at Mars? CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 13:17, 27 February 2024 (UTC) reply

Here's my proposed lead:
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. 70.8% of the Earth's surface is covered in liquid water and the remaining 29.2% is dry land. Most of the Earth's water is concentrated in a global ocean and ice sheets. Many parts of Earth's land is somewhat humid and covered by vegetation. With a mean radius of 6371.0 km(3958.8 mi), Earth is the largest, densest and most massive terrestrial planet in the Solar System. Earth has one large natural satellite: the Moon.
Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Above the crust a dynamic atmosphere, mostly consisting of nitrogen and oxygen, protects the Earth from most meteoroids and ultraviolet light. Small concentration of water vapor, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases help to capture and maintain energy from the Sun's light. Below, the planet's liquid outer core generates a magnetosphere that deflects most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.
In terms of orbital motion, Earth rotates around its own axis in 23 hours and 56 minutes, complete one revolution around the Sun in 365.25 days, and has a significant axis of rotation of 23.4°. The Moon's significant mass help to stabilize the Earth's axis and causes tides. All of these factors, when combined, enabled Earth to sustain life, complex climate systems, biogeochemical cycles and produce seasonal and weather phenomena.
Like most bodies in the Solar System, the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago from gas in the early Solar System. During the first billion years of Earth's history, the ocean formed and then life developed within it. Life spread globally and altered Earth's atmosphere and surface, leading to the Great Oxidation Event two billion years ago and produced oxygen in the atmosphere. Humans emerged 300,000 years ago in Africa and have spread across every continent on Earth. Humanity increasingly has a substantial impact on Earth's climate and biosphere to the point of causing widespread extinctions and threatening their own livelihood.
- CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 12:11, 29 February 2024 (UTC) reply
Pinging @ Mikenorton CactiStaccingCrane ( talk) 12:33, 1 March 2024 (UTC) reply

Semi-protected edit request on 16 February 2024

Ok I want to change a mistake I saw about it saying that earth is the only planter with water on it because clearly it's not. 24.101.87.161 ( talk) 21:45, 16 February 2024 (UTC) reply

The lead section says that it is the only astronomical object in the solar system to have "liquid surface water". Mikenorton ( talk) 22:12, 16 February 2024 (UTC) reply
Xushruy 84.54.71.134 ( talk) 14:02, 12 March 2024 (UTC) reply

Semi-protected edit request on 29 February 2024

Edit: Change "This process maintains the current average surface temperature of 14.76°C" from 14.76°C to 15°C [1].

This temperature seems outdated, and I couldn't find a source for it. As well, it is inconsistent with other articles, ex. /info/en/?search=Global_surface_temperature. 207.195.72.119 ( talk) 17:37, 29 February 2024 (UTC) reply

References

 Not done for now: The source for this number is this article. -- TheImaCow ( talk) 13:30, 3 March 2024 (UTC) reply

Semi-protected edit request on 1 March 2024

The Earth Is Not Flat Kwispy8 ( talk) 01:12, 1 March 2024 (UTC) reply

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. M.Bitton ( talk) 01:22, 1 March 2024 (UTC) reply

density of the Earth

If the mass of the Earth is given in kg, then the density should be in kg/m3. Mir.Nalezinski ( talk) 17:02, 13 March 2024 (UTC) reply

 Done Thanks for pointing that out! ✨ΩmegaMantis✨ blather 18:42, 13 March 2024 (UTC) reply
I will point out that the density of astronomical objects is largely given in g/cm³ and not kg/m³ by astronomers. However, Earth is of course the one astronomical object which is of interest to many fields beyond astronomy, so whether or not an exception can/should be made for units here can be argued either way. ArkHyena ( talk) 22:23, 13 March 2024 (UTC) reply
Good point. The source in the stat did use kg/m^3 though. ✨ΩmegaMantis✨ blather 00:05, 14 March 2024 (UTC) reply

Semi-protected edit request on 20 March 2024

I heard that a sidereal day instead of being 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds it's 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.09053 seconds (small change i know but will help most people getting information from wikipedia) Ertgiuhnoyo ( talk) 18:21, 20 March 2024 (UTC) reply

 Already done This is covered in the rotation section. Jamedeus ( talk) 18:47, 20 March 2024 (UTC) reply