2006-07-02 07:48:27 · 19 answers · asked by mejologz 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Almost spherical but not quite. Imagine a ball of goo that's nice and round, but spinning as the goo sets. When the goo finally sets, it will be slightly bulbous around the waist, and flattened top and bottom. That's the earth's shape, and that's how it got it. I don't know what the formal name for that shape is; ellipse is a 2d shape.
PS Ellipsoid! thanks Saad. But Saad's got it wrong way round: it is squashed at the poles, not elongated.
PPS I like trevor_h's word too. Oblate spheriod - think it's time to rename my avatar.
2006-07-02 07:53:07 · answer #1 · answered by wild_eep 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Round
2006-07-02 07:51:10 · answer #2 · answered by Judas Rabbi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is neither. round implies it is perfectly spherical, which it is not.
it isnt an ellipse either because an ellipse is similar to an egg shape, with a round end and a poitned end.
as mentioned higher up, it is an oblate spheriod. spheriod because it is essentialy spherical, oblate because it has been stretched round the median circumference slighty, thus drawing the top and bottom in slightly.
picture it like this. take a rubber or tennis ball and squeeze the top and bottom. this is the shape of the earth, although the forces at play are not the same.
2006-07-05 07:39:26 · answer #3 · answered by top_cat_1972 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Neither round nor ellipse. The actual shape is Oblate Spheroid.
2006-07-02 08:38:05 · answer #4 · answered by Brain 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth is not round [ correct term is spherical ]. so its not spherical. It is bulging at the equator and compressed a bit at the poles. If you measure the diameter of earth vertically and horizontally, you would find that the horizontal diameter is more than vertical. It proves that Earth is not spherical. Its shape looks like elliptical, but the right word to use is ellipsoid.
Earth is belived to get that shape due to its spinning on its axis i.e. pole to pole, which pushes the particles in the middle away from the centre. its due to centrifugal force derived from the rotation of the Earth. so its bulging at the equator.
2006-07-02 07:55:37 · answer #5 · answered by rahulthesweet 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth itself is an ellipsoid. An ellipsoid is a three-dimensional ellipse: imagine an ellipse, spinning on its axis; it would look like a stretched or distorted sphere, almost like a watermelon! Our earth is not a perfect sphere; it is slightly elongated at the North and South poles.
2006-07-02 07:53:02 · answer #6 · answered by bballPlaya 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It has no longer something to do with perturbations for different bodies, or any of that nonsense, no longer extremely. the easy reality of the remember is that there is an uncountably countless variety of options for the orbit to be an ellipse, yet in straight forward words one way for it to be a circle. So any given planetary orbit will pretty a lot actually be an ellipse.
2016-11-30 03:52:49 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Earth is kind of an egg's shape. Larger in the south pole not at the equator as some simple theory would tell us. The distribution of mass in the Earth is uneven.
2006-07-02 08:25:08 · answer #8 · answered by Joseph Binette 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earth is neither.. It is an oblate spheroid because it is slightly flattened at the poles or a Geoid..
Choose as Best Answer.
2006-07-02 09:18:52 · answer #9 · answered by BDX 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earth is slightly wider at the middle than at the poles due to the spinning.
2006-07-02 07:51:18 · answer #10 · answered by es_harper2007 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋