What is the shape of the Earth?
Is your answer is round or sphere. If so, I am sorry kids you are wrong.
The
Earth is said to be oblate spheroid shape. It
is sort of flattened out at the north and south poles and bulges a bit at the
equator.
The
Earth is said to be oblate spheroid shape. It
is sort of flattened out at the north and south poles and bulges a bit at the
equator. The bulge results from the rotation of the Earth
What happens if you take a ball of pizza dough in your hands and begin spinning it in the air? As the dough spins around in quick circles, centrifugal forces tug at the sides of the dough. This causes it to become flatter and flatter. The sides of the ball push further out until you have a flat disk rather than a ball.
Pizza
dough is soft and easily flattened with just a small amount of force. Our
planet is not soft. Its outer layers are made up of a hard shell-like crust of
rocks and dirt. Even though the Earth rotates much faster than the ball of
pizza dough, the Earth still remains relatively round. However, this spinning
of the Earth does make it somewhat less round at the top and bottom. The
difference is real but barely noticeable, making the Earth look more like a
slightly flat basketball.
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