How Big is the Moon Compared to Earth?


The moon appears as the biggest celestial body in the night sky, yet it is never really possible to look at it and gauge how big it really is compared to the earth. It is impossible to come to a conclusion through visual observations. To know how big is the Moon compared to Earth one needs real numbers that measure the size of the Earth and the Moon.

Difference in Diameters of Earth and Moon

A comparison of the diameters of the Earth and the Moon show the former has as diameter of 12,742 km (7,918 mi) and the latter has a diameter of only 3,476 km (2,160 mi).

Surface Area Contrast

Since the diameters of the Earth and Moon show such disparity, it is obvious the same would be observed in the surface areas of the two as well. The Moon's surface area is very small in contrast with that of the Earth. While the Earth's total surface area is 510,072,000 square km that of the moon is only 37,932,000 square km. The moon's surface area is just a small fraction of that of the Earth.

Comparing the Mass

The Earth's mass is also greater than the Moon's mass. The Earth is massive in size when matched up to the Moon. It would take more than 80 Moons to equal the mass of the Earth, since the Moon's mass is approximately 1% that the mass of the Earth.

Volume of Earth and Moon

With all the parameters used for measuring size pointing to the Earth being bigger, the same results are expected from the volume of the two celestial bodies. The Earth boasts of a gigantic volume that measures 1,083,210,000,000 cubic kilometers. The Moon's volume on the other hand is 21,958,000,000 cubic kilometers.

Conclusion

Simply stated, the Earth is much bigger than the Moon in all aspects. If the two are looked at from space the Earth would dwarf the Moon.

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