The Shape and Dimension of the Earth

The earth is one of the nine planets in the solar system. It is spherical is shape. It is also divided into two hemispheres – the Northern and Southern hemispheres. There are two major types of lines that run through the earth. They include:

• The latitude lines and
• The longitude lines

The latitude lines are imaginary lines running from the east to the west, north or south of the equator. This means that they increase towards the North or South. Examples are:

• Tropic of cancer
• Tropic of capricon
• Artic circle
• Antartic circle.
• The equator line on zero degree.

The longitude lines are imaginary lines running from the North pole to the South pole, east or west of the Greenwich meridian. They increase towards the east or west. E.g, the Greenwich meridian on zero degree running through Ghana and London.

However, the earth has a radius of approximately 6400km.

EVALUATION

1. State two differences between latitude lines and longitude lines.
2. Mention two examples of the lines of latitude.
3. What is the approximate radius of the earth?