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A "true circumnavigation" of Earth is defined, in order to account for the shape of Earth, to be about 2.5 times as long, including a crossing of the equator, at about 40,000 km (25,000 mi). [24] On the flat Earth model, the ratios would require the Antarctic Circle to be 2.5 times the length of the circumnavigation, or 2.5 × 2.5 = 6.25 times ...
The curvature of the Earth is evident in the horizon across the image, and the bases of the buildings on the far shore are below that horizon and hidden by the sea. The simplest model for the shape of the entire Earth is a sphere. The Earth's radius is the distance from Earth's center to its surface, about 6,371 km (3,959 mi). While "radius ...
as the shape of the geoid, the mean sea level of the world ocean; or; as the shape of Earth's land surface as it rises above and falls below the sea. As the science of geodesy measured Earth more accurately, the shape of the geoid was first found not to be a perfect sphere but to approximate an oblate spheroid, a specific type of ellipsoid.
The planet Earth has a rather slight equatorial bulge; its equatorial diameter is about 43 km (27 mi) greater than its polar diameter, with a difference of about 1 ⁄ 298 of the equatorial diameter. If Earth were scaled down to a globe with an equatorial diameter of 1 metre (3.3 ft), that difference would be only 3 mm (0.12 in).
Bede was lucid about Earth's sphericity, writing "We call the earth a globe, not as if the shape of a sphere were expressed in the diversity of plains and mountains, but because, if all things are included in the outline, the earth's circumference will represent the figure of a perfect globe ...
Although everyone learns that the Earth is neatly divided into seven continents, a scientist recently suggested that things may not be so clear cut. A Scientist Says That, Actually, Earth Might ...
The geoid is often expressed as a geoid undulation or geoidal height above a given reference ellipsoid, which is a slightly flattened sphere whose equatorial bulge is caused by the planet's rotation. Generally the geoidal height rises where the Earth's material is locally more dense and exerts greater gravitational force than the surrounding areas.
Earth's surface is the boundary between the atmosphere, and the solid Earth and oceans. Defined in this way, it has an area of about 510 million km 2 (197 million sq mi). [12] Earth can be divided into two hemispheres: by latitude into the polar Northern and Southern hemispheres; or by longitude into the continental Eastern and Western hemispheres.