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A View of Planet Earth

The document defines key concepts related to mapping the Earth's surface: - The modern definition of a meter is the distance light travels in 1/300,000,000 of a second. - The Earth's diameter is about 12,700 km and its circumference is about 40,075 km. - The three main features of the Earth are the lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). - Globes and maps represent the Earth's surface drawn to scale on a flat plane, with scales determining the level of detail shown.

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Nicolò Buzzaccaro
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44 views

A View of Planet Earth

The document defines key concepts related to mapping the Earth's surface: - The modern definition of a meter is the distance light travels in 1/300,000,000 of a second. - The Earth's diameter is about 12,700 km and its circumference is about 40,075 km. - The three main features of the Earth are the lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), and atmosphere (air). - Globes and maps represent the Earth's surface drawn to scale on a flat plane, with scales determining the level of detail shown.

Uploaded by

Nicolò Buzzaccaro
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE DEFINICION OF METER

The first definition of meter was developed in 1978 and was defined the 40,000,000th (forty hundred
millionth) part of the equator. But in from 1984, the modern definition of meter is: the distance
covered by light in a 300,000,000th (three hundred millionth) of second.

THE SIZE OF THE EARTH


The size of the Earth can be described by two measurements: its diameter and its circumference.
The diameter (from the North Pole to the South Pole) is about 12,700 (twelve thousand and seven
hundred) kilometres long. The circumference (the distance around the Earth) is about 40,075 (forty
thousand and seventy-five).
FEATURES OF THE EARTH
The three main features of the Earth are the land, the water, and the air. The scientists call the land
of the Earth lithosphere, the water on Earth hydrosphere and the oxygen that we breathe
atmosphere.
MAPPING THE EARTH’S SURFACE
A map is a drawing of the Earth, or a part of the Earth, on a flat surface. The most accurate
representation of the entire surface of the Earth is a globe, a spherical model of the Earth.
Both maps and globes are drawn to scale. A scale compares distance on a map to actual distances
on the Earth surface. Considering the scale we can divided in large and small scale, considering the
relation between the number in the map: if the scale is more large, is more detailed; a small scale is
less detailed then a large scale.
MERIDIANS AND PARALLELS
Some lines in the map run between the North and the South Poles. These lines are called meridians.
Geographers are named the meridian that runs through Greenwich the prime meridian. The angular
distance from a point on the surface of the Earth and the prime meridian measure along a parallel is
the longitude.
There are also lines from east to west across a map, these lines are called parallels. The parallels
cross the meridian at rights angles. The parallel located halfway between the North and the South
Poles is the equator, so in relation to the equator, locations of other parallels are either north or
south. The angular distance from a point on the surface of the Earth and the equator measure along
a meridian is the latitude.
TIME ZONES
On Earth, a day is 24 hours long, if we divided 360° by the number of hours in a day (24), we will
find that the Earth rotates 15° every hour. These zones are called time zones. If you travelling west,
you subtract one hour for each time zone you cross. To simplify matters geographers have
established the international date line, located along the 180th meridian. The international date line
is a conventional line located in the opposite degrees of the Greenwich meridian, when we cross
these line, we change the date.
The jet lag is a disease wich occurs when we cross 3 or 4 time zones by plane.

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