Question

The earth’s diameter at the equator and at the poles is ------- and ------- kms.
A) 12756; 12714
B) 9671; 12774
C) 10650; 11721
D) 15656; 12714

Answer 1

Hint: According to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, the radius of the Planet at the equator is 3963 miles (6378 kilometres). The disparity in the diameter of the Planet has always been important when it comes to preparing space missions, satellite orbits, and globe circumnavigation. The earth is a tad wider than it is tall (25 miles / 41 km), giving it a small bulge at the Equator. This form is known as an ellipsoid or more accurately, as a geoid (earth-like).

Complete answer:
Sun, the third most important planet in the solar system, is the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Earth is the largest of the inner solar system's terrestrial planets, larger than Mercury, Venus and Mars. The equatorial diameter of the Earth is around 24,901 miles using those measurements (40,075 km). Earth, however, is just 24,860 miles (40,008 km from pole-to-pole, the southern circumference. This form, induced by the flattening of the poles, is called the spheroid of the Oblates.

The Planet experiences a flattening of 0.0033528 at the poles, according to the 2004 working group of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS). This flattening is due to the rapid 1,674.4 km/h (1,040.4 mph) rotational velocity of Earth, which causes the planet to bulge at the equator.

Now let us look into the given options
A) The diameter of the planet is 12756 and 12714 kms at the equator and at the poles. Option A is therefore the correct answer.
B) The diameter of the planet at the equator and at the poles is not 9671 or 12774 km. Option B is therefore incorrect.
C) The diameter of the planet at the equator and at the poles is not 10650 or 11721 km. Hence, Option C is not the correct answer.
D) The diameter of the planet at the equator and at the poles is not 15656 or 12714 kms. Choice D is therefore not the correct option.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note:
-The Earth's total surface area is about 197 million square miles (510 million square km).
-Around 71% is protected by water and 29% by land.
-The World isn't exactly a sphere. At the equator, the rotation of the earth causes it to bulge. The polar radius of Earth is 3,950 miles (6,356 km), a 13-mile difference (22 km).
-Objects along the equator are about 21 km further from the centre of the Earth (geocenter) than objects at the poles.