The biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships. This includes their interactions with the lithosphere (the rigid outer part of the earth, consisting of the crust and upper mantle), hydrosphere (all surface water), and atmosphere (the envelope of gases surrounding the planet).

The broadest classification of life splits all organisms into three groups called domains. The three domains of life are bacteria, archaea and eukaryota.

In contrast to the Celsius scale (measured in degrees centigrade) that fixes 0° at the freezing point of water and the Fahrenheit scale that uses 32°, the Kelvin scale fixes 0° at absolute zero (-273°C) which is the lowest temperature possible in the universe.

The four planets closest to the Sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are called terrestrial (Earth-like) planets because, like the Earth, they're solid with inner metal cores covered by rocky surfaces.