What Is The Heaviest Thing On Earth? The Answer Might Shock You!

Are you wondering what is the heaviest thing on Earth?

The heaviest thing in the world that has been directly weighed would be the Revolving Service Structure (RSS) of launch-pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Apart from the Revolving Service Structure (RSS) of launch-pad 39B, the Great Wall Of China falls under world records as well since it weighs around 116 billion lb (52,616,714,920 kg).

According to science, the heaviest nature of an object can either be determined by its weight or by its mass. The weight of an object on Earth is the gravitational pull towards the center whereas the mass is what the body is made of.

Based on these theories, the RSS of launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center holds the world's record to be the heaviest object made by a man.

According to the Guinness World Records, the Revolving Service Structure (RSS) of launch-pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center was lifted once.

The structure was lifted to directly measure the weight of the object. When the structure was lifted, the weight was around 5.34 million oz (2,422,183.25 kg).

Even though the Revolving Service Structure (RSS) of launch-pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center was lifted once in 2004, the Great Wall cannot be moved. The Great Wall of China is also a part of world records.

Weighing approximately around 116 billion lb (52,616,714,920 kg), the Great Wall of China is the heaviest man-made object but cannot be moved and measured accurately.

If you like reading about the heaviest object ever, you might want to read about what is the biggest thing in the world and when was the Titanic built.

Is water the heaviest thing?

70% of the world is made up of water. This 70% is made up of five great oceans, around 76 rivers, and innumerable tributaries and distributaries. Considering this fact, people might assume water to be the heaviest object ever, although that would be incorrect.

Even though 70% of the world is made of water, water is not the heaviest object in the world. If we consider liquid, then mercury would be the heaviest object ever in the world.

Mercury is the liquid used inside barometers to measure atmospheric pressure. Hence, for liquids, mercury would be the heaviest and is around 13.5 times denser than water. For any material, osmium is known to be the heaviest material in the world.

Are things heavier in space?

Even though the Great Wall of China or the revolving structure at NASA is the heaviest object out of a million things, they do not have any weight in space. This is due to the fact that weight is nothing but a force or the gravitational pull towards the center of our planet.

So, when an object is present in space, it will not exert any weight.

However, they still have mass. Mass is nothing but what the object is composed of.

This value remains unaltered irrespective of the object's location. So the mass of the object will remain the same on our planet as well as out in space.

According to world records, the heaviest object moved by a man is the RSS structure; the structure was lifted in 2004 and has a massive weight, although it might not be the heaviest object in space. If by chance the structure was lifted in space, it would have to be measured in terms of its inertial balance.

The inertial balance enables the scientist to measure not the weight but the mass of the object.

Hence, we can conclude that even if the heaviest object was left free in space, it would have only mass but not any weight. Due to the absence of gravitational pull, objects would be much lighter rather than being heavier.

For example, an average man weighs one-sixth of his weight on the moon due to less gravitational pull. However, in space lies the densest object which is the neutron star.

How heavy is the Moon?

The Moon is the only satellite that is known to rotate and revolve around Earth. It revolves at a distance of 384,400 km from Earth.

The heaviness of an object is usually measured by the weight and mass of the object. Weight is measured by the gravitational pull of a thing on Earth. However, this is not valid for other objects in the universe.

Any object present in the universe is measured by the mass of the individual object. In terms of the Moon, it has a mass of around 264,967.42 oz (7.35 x 1022 kg) which is around 1.2% of that of Earth.

The density might range up to 1.92 oz/in3 (3.34 g/cm3) which is around 60% of Earth's density. Compared to Earth, the Moon is around 81 times smaller. It numbers second in terms of densities of the Moon and other planets.

Which is the biggest: the Earth, the Sun, or the Moon?

In order to compare the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon, it has to be done on the basis of their masses. Due to the absence of gravitational force in space, these universal bodies do not experience any gravitational pull individually.

So, these three bodies cannot be evaluated on the basis of their weights as the weight is measured on the basis of the gravitational pull.

When it comes to masses of these three planets, the Sun and the Moon might appear to be of the same size when seen from Earth.

However, it is just an illusion as the Sun is situated about 400 times farther than the Moon. The biggest or the heaviest object of these three bodies is the Sun.

The Sun is the biggest member of the solar system and is almost 333,000 times larger than Earth, whereas the Moon is the smallest among the three.

The diameter of the Sun is around four times the distance required to travel from the Moon to the Sun. The Sun can be considered so big that around 1,300,000 planets of the same size as Earth can fit within the Sun.

On the other hand, the Moon is the smallest at around 1.2% of the total mass of the Earth, and is around 400 times smaller than the Sun.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what is the heaviest thing on Earth then take a look at 'kids' chemistry facts: why do ionic compounds have high melting point' or 'have you ever wondered: why do football players wear eye black'.