Question

Which longitude is the standard meridian for India?
A. $82^\circ 30'$ Eastern longitude
B. $98^\circ 28'$ Eastern longitude
C. $92^\circ 30'$ Eastern longitude
D. $72^\circ 30'$ Eastern longitude

Answer 1

HintThe horizontal circle that goes around the Earth is called the Latitudes and the semi-circles which connect pole to pole are called Longitudes. Every longitude cuts along every latitude. Apart from this, longitude specifies the east-west position of a point on the surface of the Earth.

Complete step-by-step solutionThe total number of longitudes is 360. The longitude that passes through Greenwich, England is the $0^\circ $ meridian which is known as the Prime Meridian or the Greenwich Meridian. The longitudes are divided into two types i.e., the East longitudes and the West longitudes. The longitudes which run from $0^\circ $ to $180^\circ $ in the east direction are called East longitudes. The longitudes which run from $0^\circ $ to $180^\circ $ in the west direction are called West longitudes. $0^\circ $ And $180^\circ $ longitudes do not have direction markers. All the other longitudes have direction markers, for example, $72^\circ {\text{E}}$ for 72° East longitude, $120^\circ {\text{W}}$ for West longitude. Minutes and seconds are the two essential components of a degree of longitude. The sun takes four minutes to move $1^\circ $ of longitude. The $180^\circ $ longitude is exactly opposite to the $0^\circ $ longitude and is called the anti-meridian. $82^\circ 30'$ Eastern Longitude is taken as the standard meridian of India and serves as the Indian Standard Time (IST). IST is exactly $5\dfrac{1}{2}$ hours ahead of Greenwich. The standard time for every country is fixed.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

NoteMany countries tried to fix the longitude that passes through their own territory as the ${{\text{0}}^{\text{o}}}$ longitude. Then, England decided that the ${{\text{0}}^{\text{o}}}$ meridian will be the Greenwich. As they ruled over a large part of the world at that time, everyone else ended up following their system.