Question

How are lines of longitude measured?

Answer 1

Hint: Longitude is a geographic coordinate that indicates the surface of a celestial body or the east-west situation of a point on the Earth's surface.

Complete answer: Longitude refers to the vertical lines that run in a north-south direction along the Earth’s surface, unlike the latitude lines. It is measured with the help of the imaginary lines that vertically run along the earth’s surface and meet at the North and South Poles. The imaginary line that runs through Greenwich, England is termed as the Prime Meridian. It is internationally accepted as the zero degrees longitude which divides the earth’s surface into two equal halves. The eastern half of the prime meridian is measured in degrees east while the other half is measured in the degrees west.

Degrees of longitude is separated into 60 minutes and every minute of longitude can be additionally divided into 60 seconds. For instance, the longitude of Delhi, India is 77 degrees, 13 minutes east. The longitude for Brasilia, Brazil, is 47 degrees, 55 minutes west.

To gauge longitude east or west of the Prime Meridian, there are 180 vertical longitude queues east of the Prime Meridian and 180 vertical longitude queues west of the Prime Meridian, so longitude areas are given as degrees east or degrees west. The 180-degree line is a solitary vertical line called the International Date Line, and it is straightforwardly inverse of the Prime Meridian.

Note: The vastest areas of longitude are close to the Equator, where the Earth swells out. Due to the Earth's shape, the genuine distance of degrees, minutes, and seconds of longitude relies upon its distance from the Equator.