How can I remember which way is longitude and lattitude easier?

Question

I have a science cumulative test coming up. And I need to know the longitude and latitude and I'm always confused by which is which. And what are the starting and ending points of each line.

Answer 1

Think of the Jimmy Buffet song "Changes in Latitude, changes in attitudes" In the song he talks about how when he goes south crossing the latitude lines to the Caribbean people get a better more laid back attitude.

So think of the latitudinal lines as the ones that section the globe like the equator (which is one) where as the longitude lines are more like an orange wedge that stretch to the north and south poles.

Answer 2

LONGitude always is the same length ... from North to South Pole

Latitude is longer around the equator, but gets shorter the closer it gets to the poles ... it doesn't stay as long

I can understand what makes it harder.
Longitude has readings East and West and Latitude has North South readings ... there is a reason for that.
To work out which verticle line you are talking about there are 2 lots of 180 degrees for Longitude with Zero at Grenwich, England. East goes to Australia and Asia - West goes to the Americas.

Alaska. .|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|England
England|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__| New Zealand

It doesn't matter that New Zealand is in the Southern Pacific Ocean, it is still on the same vertical line - Longitude.

Now draw a circle. Have a vertical and horizontal line that cut through the middle. From the middle, work out the degrees from 0 to 90 around the side of the circle. At each mark, you can draw a horizontal line.
The middle horizontal line is the Equator - Zero degrees Latitude.
Each line above is Latitude North to show how far from the Equator.

Some examples:
Sydney, Australia: Lat 34s - Long 151e
Seoul, Korea: Lat 38n - Long 127e
Stockholm, Sweden: Lat 59n - Long 18e
Sao Paulo, Brazil: Lat 24s - Long 47w
Springfield, Ohio, USA: Lat 40n - Long 84w
San Francisco, USA: Lat 38n - Long 122w

Answer 3

Try thinking of it this way,

Longitudinal Lines start and finish at the poles and are therefore always the same length, they are stated as East or West Longitude because they are measured from the Prime Meridian at Greewich in England

Latitude lines circle the earth East to West and are measured from the Equator and each is a smaller distance around the earth as you approach the poles...so....

If you travel on a lOngitude line its nOrth to sOuth crossing meridians of Latitude as you go...notice all the capital O's?

If you travel on a lAtitude line its eAst to west crossing meridiansof Longitude lines as you go....notice the 2 capital A's?

To remember try to remember the capital O's for lOngitude and nOrth and sOuth...and the capital A's in lAtitude and eAst....

I really hope this helps you remember in your test...when you get into your test try to write them down straight away.....

Answer 4

I remember Latitude as a Ladder - parallel horizontal lines telling you how far North or South of the Equator. Once you remember one, you know the other. ;)

This site puts it visually for you: http://www.lakelandsd.com/tutorial/lesson1.html


Latitude 'starts' at the Equator and runs North and South to the Poles. Longitude is measured from the Prime Meridian.

Answer 5

Think about a long pole! ( lines of longitude meet at the north and south poles)

Answer 6

Latitude is fattitude, and longitude is the other one. Fat is around, so latitude.
That's how I remember it, anyway.

Answer 7

Longitude.. lines look longer when they are going from left to right.

Latitude.. the opposite.. so if you memorize one, you've got the other one down.

If your a muscle nerd, you know that the lattisimus dorsi is the muscle that's straited up and down towards the side of your body. So if you know that your lattisimus dorsi is on the sides and its straited up and down, then you know that it's lattitude.

Answer 8

Longitude - "Long" your mouth goes | - so up and down

Lattitude - sideways like the rungs of a ladder =

That's how I learned in 5th grade, and I still remember it years later.

Answer 9

longitude are all the same length ... IE: long
latitude are different length depending where on the globe they circle...

Answer 10

You need both to check out the location.