The Earth is not particularly a giant planet compared to its neighbors in the Solar System, in fact, it ranks fifth among the largest planets in the neighborhood. But surprisingly it is the densest planet of all, even more than Jupiter, which is the largest. Reaching this conclusion has not been easy, the path began centuries ago to know how much planet Earth weighs.
Our planet is not the largest in the Solar System, but surprisingly it is not a light body, how is this possible? The explanation lies in the fact that it is the largest of the so-called rocky bodies, which are composed of silicate rocks or metals and have a solid surface. Thanks to the composition of its rock layers, it is the densest body of all.
The largest planets in the Solar System like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are known as gas giants and it is for a reason; It has a gaseous density. They are mainly composed of hydrogen, helium and , therefore they are less dense despite their large size.
With this context we can now better understand the magnitude of the Earth’s mass, which weighs approximately 5.975 trillion tons and has a density of 5.514 grams per cubic centimeter. As we have said, it is the densest planet, even much more dense than the Sun, which is the largest body of all. To put it in context, the density of our host star is just 1.41 grams per cubic centimeter and that of Jupiter, the largest planet, is just 1.33 grams per cubic centimeter.
How could they determine the weight of the Earth?
To know the unit of mass of a body within our planet, scientists developed different devices such as the scale. That is, if you want to weigh a body, just take it to the scale and that’s it, you will obtain its unit of mass. However, we can’t put the Earth in this instrument, knowing how much it weighs is more complicated than that. So how did they do it?
The path to knowing the unit of mass of the Earth began centuries ago. In the 18th century they began to study the gravitational attraction that the planet exerts on other bodies such as the Moon. Thanks to complex calculations, they were able to determine this attraction in concrete figures and from there they derived the unit of mass of the Earth.
In other words, the weight of our planet could be determined thanks to the fact that it has gravitational influences on other nearby bodies. Although it was not an easy path, little by little scientists approached the figure with greater precision until they reached the conclusion that the Earth weighs 5.975 trillion tons.