Why is the equatorial diameter bigger than the polar diameter?

Why is the equatorial diameter bigger than the polar diameter?

An equatorial bulge is a difference between the equatorial and polar diameters of a planet, due to the centrifugal force exerted by the rotation about the body’s axis. A rotating body tends to form an oblate spheroid rather than a sphere.

Is equatorial radius greater than polar radius?

Shape of the Earth The Earth departs from a purely spherical shape in having an equatorial radius that is greater than its polar radius.

What is the difference between equatorial radius and polar radius of the earth?

The radius of Earth at the equator is 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers), according to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. However, Earth is not quite a sphere. The planet’s rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth’s polar radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km) — a difference of 13 miles (22 km).

Why is the circumference around the equator larger than around the poles?

This is because the Earth isn’t a perfect sphere; it bulges around the equator because it’s rotating on its axis. The Earth is a flattened sphere, and so the distance around the equator is further than the circumference around the poles.

What is the length of Earth polar diameter?

As a result, the latest measurements indicate that the Earth has an equatorial diameter of 12,756 km (7926 mi), and a polar diameter of 12713.6 km (7899.86 mi).

Which is greater equatorial radius of polar radius Why?

The planet’s rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth’s polar radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km) — a difference of 13 miles (22 km).

What is polar radius of a curve?

“A curve is such that the length of the polar radius of any point on the curve is equal to the length of the\ntangent drawn at this point. Form the differential equation and solve it to find the equation of the\ncurve.”

What is meant by polar radius?

The Earth’s polar radius b, or semi-minor axis, is the distance from its center to the North and South Poles, and equals 6,356.7523 km (3,949.9028 mi).

How is Earth radius measured?

This means that Eratosthenes estimated the circumference of the Earth to be about 40,000 km. He also knew that the circumference of a circle was equal to 2 times π (3.1415…) times the radius of the circle. (C = 2πr) With this information, Eratosthenes inferred that the Earth’s radius was 6366 km.

Why do rotating objects flatten?

The equilibrium shape of a rotating star–or planet, for that matter–is not a sphere, but rather an flattened oblate spheroid. The reason is that centrifugal effects are greatest at the rotational equator and work against the object’s self-gravity.

Why is the polar radius greater than the equatorial radius?

A planet or star typically rotates about the axis of symmetry, which produces an equatorial bulge, so the polar radius is less than the equatorial radius and the spheroid is oblate. More of theoretical interest, the prolate spheroid has a polar radius that is greater that the equatorial radius.

Which is the polar radius of a spheroid?

A spheroid has an axis of symmetry. The polar radius is the distance from the center to the surface along that axis. The equatorial radius is the distance from the center to the surface along a line perpendicular to that axis.

Which is bigger the equator or the pole?

In truth, it is what is known as an “oblate spheroid”, which is a sphere that experiences flattening at the poles. Because of this, the diameter of the Earth at the equator is about 43 kilometers (27 mi) larger than the pole-to-pole diameter. As a result, the latest measurements indicate that the Earth has a From: What is the Diameter of Earth?

Why does atomic radius increase down a periodic table?

Down a Group: Atomic radius increases down any Periodic Table Group because in each successive period the outer electrons occupy an orbit that is further from the nucleus.