GEOGRAPHY LESSON NOTES

CLASS: FORM ONE

TOPIC: THE SOLAR SYSTEM
SUB-TOPIC: THE EARTH

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 THE EARTH
 The earth is the third furthest planet and fifth in
largest covering a distance of about 150 million
kilometres from the sun.
 It consists of;
a) Atmosphere (air)
b) Hydrosphere (water bodies)
c) Lithosphere (solid and molten materials)
d) Biosphere (living things).
 75% of the earth’s surface is covered by water.
 The earth is the only planet in the solar system
with water bodies.
 The earth is the planet on which we live. 2
THE POSITION OF THE EARTH FROM THE SUN

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 THE SHAPE AND SIZE OF THE EARTH
 The shape of the earth is a flattened sphere.
 A flattened sphere means oblate spheroid
(geoid).
 The flattening of the earth is very slight as the
measurements in the north-south and east-
west distance indicate.
 The polar diameter is about 12,713 Km while
the equatorial diameter is 12,757 kilometres.
 The circumference of the earth at the equator
is about 40,000 kilometres 4
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 EVIDENCE OF THE EARTH’S SHAPE
(i)Sunrise and sunset
(ii)Circumnavigation of the earth
(iii)Aerial photograph of the earth
(iv)Ship’s visibility
(v) Lunar eclipse
(vi)The earth’s curved horizon

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 1. SUNRISE AND SUNSET.
 The sun rises and sets at different times in
different places of the earth hence people
in the east sees the sun earlier than those in
the west due to the earth’s rotation from
west to east .
 If the earth was flat, the whole world
would have sunrise and sunset at the same
time

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SUNRISE AND SUNSET.

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 2. CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EARTH
 It was the journey around the earth.
 It was proved by Ferdinand Magellan that, if
you travel from a certain point on the earth
by going straight around the earth, you will
eventually come back to the point of origin.
 Ferdinand Magellan was the first navigator
who sailed around the world from 1519 to
1522.
 Magellan in his voyage did not encounter any
abrupt edge on earth’s surface over which he
would fall. 9
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE EARTH

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3. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE EARTH
 A photograph taken by airplane or images
captured by artificial satellites from the air show
that the earth is curved.

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 4. SHIP’S VISIBILITY
 The visibility of an arriving ship which is far
away starts with the flag, then the mast and
eventually the whole ship as it nears the coast.
 When the ship moves away, it gradually
disappears starting with the ship, then the mast
and finally the flag
 If the earth were flat, the whole ship would
appear or disappear at once

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SPHERICAL EARTH

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FLAT EARTH

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 5. LUNAR ECLIPSE
 When light from the sun is obstructed, a
circular shadow is observable.
 For example, during the eclipse of the moon,
the shadow of the earth on the moon appears
spherical

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LUNAR ECLIPSE

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LUNAR ECLIPSE

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 6. THE EARTH’S CURVED HORIZON
The earth appears to have a curved horizon when
viewed from a high cliff, a plane or a high
building.
The earth’s curved horizon widens as the
observer’s altitude increases until it becomes
circular.

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The earth’s curved horizon

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 THE EARTH’S MOVEMENT
 The earth is in motion all the time.
 The earth has two movements;
a)Rotation
b)Revolution.
A) Rotation of the earth
 The term rotation means the spinning of a body on
its axis.
 An axis is an imaginary line joining the North and
South poles through the centre of the earth

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 THE EARTH’S MOVEMENT
----------Rotation of the earth
 The earth rotates on its axis in an anticlockwise
direction, from West to East through 360° in 24
hours.
 This means the earth takes one hour to rotate
through 15 ° , which °is equal to 4 minutes for
every 1 °

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Rotation of the earth

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 Evidence of the earth’s rotation
a) At night, most of the stars appear to move across
the sky from the east to the west. This proves that
the earth is rotating from the west to the east.
b) When travelling in a fast-moving vehicle, we notice
that trees and other objects appear to be moving in
the opposite direction.
c) In the morning the sun appears to rise over the
eastern horizon but due to the fact that the sun is the
center of the solar system we know that it does not
move in relation to the solar system.
This shows that the earth is moving from west to east.
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 Effects of the earth’s rotation
i. Day and night
ii. Differences in time between places located at
different longitudes (Different hours)
iii.Deflection of winds and ocean currents
iv.Daily rising and falling of tides
v. Gain or loss of a day when crossing the
International Date Line
1. Day and night.
 The earth’s rotation causes day and night.
 The side that faces the sun will be expecting day
light while the side that is not facing the sun at
that time will be in darkness. 25
1. Day and night

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 Effects of the earth’s rotation
2. Differences in time between places located at
different longitudes / Different hours.
 The difference in time is determined by
longitudinal differences between two or more
places.
 Since the earth rotates from west to the east
making a circle of 360° .
 Then, how long will it take to turn 1° ?

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…..Effects of the earth’s rotation

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 3. Gain or loss of a day when crossing the
International Date Line

 What is an International Date line (IDL)?

 Refers to an imaginary line extending between
the North Pole and the South Pole demarcating
each calendar day from the next.
This line was established in 1884.
It follows the meridian of 180° longitude except
where it crosses land surface.

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 4. Deflection of winds and ocean currents
 The planetary winds and ocean currents are
deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere
and to the left in the southern hemisphere.
 Ferrel’s Law states that;
freely moving bodies are deflected to their right in
the northern hemisphere and to their left in the
southern hemisphere from their point of origin.

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Deflection of ocean currents

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5. The daily rising and falling of tides.
 The ocean tide is the rising and falling of the water
level in the ocean.
 Ocean tide is caused by gravitational attraction
exerted by the sun and the moon upon the rotating
earth.
 When the sun, the moon and the earth are in a
straight line, the ocean tide rises and when the sun,
the moon and the earth are not in a straight line,
the ocean tide falls.
 Tides are experienced at different times of the day
and in different places on the earth’s surface.
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