Geometry of the Earth, Moon,

and Sun

Ma. Theresa Vanessa F. Libres

The shape of the earth

Distance and size of the Sun and Moon

The size of the earth

Pythagoras (560-480 B.C.E.) The ancient Greek knows that the earth was round. As long as about 500 B.C.E., The mathematician Pythagoras (560-480 B.C.E.) Was teaching that the earth was

spherical, but the reasons for his support of this idea was as much mystical as

rational.

Aristotle (384-322 A.C.E)

He was presenting arguments for Earth’s spherical shape that were based on simple Naked-eye observation.

The shapes that the Moon itself each month are every kind-straight, gibbous, and concave-but in eclipses the outline is always curved; and since it is the interposition of the Earth that makes the eclipse, the form of this line will be caused by the form of the earth’s surface, which is therefore Spherical.

VIDEO

One of the remarkable ancient Greekastronomers was Aristarchus of Samos(about 310-230 B.C.E). He was able toestimate the size and distance of theMoon and sun. even though his valueswere not highly accurate, they gave atleast the correct sense of which waslarger and which was smaller thanEarth’s, as well as approximateindications of their distance from theearth. Few of his writings survive intact,but references to his works by laterastronomers allow us to reconstructmany of his findings.

Distance And Size Of The Sun And Moon FORMULA

Earth, the third planet from the sun, is the fifth largest planet in the solar system; only the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are bigger. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets of

the inner solar system, bigger than Mercury, Venus and Mars.

The mean radius of Earth is 3,959 miles (6,371 kilometers). However, Earth is not quite a sphere. The planet's rotation

causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth's equatorial diameter is

7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers), but from pole to pole, the

diameter is 7,900 miles (12,720 km) — a difference of only 40

miles (64 km).

The circumference of Earth at the equator is about

24,902 miles (40,075 km), but from pole-to-pole — the

meridional circumference —Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km) around. This

shape, caused by the flattening at the poles, is

called an oblate spheroid.

DENSITY, MASS AND VOLUME

Earth's density is 5.52 grams per cubic centimeter. Earth is the densest planet in the solar system because of its metallic core and rocky mantle. Jupiter, which is 318 more massive than Earth, is less dense because it is made of gases, such as hydrogen.Earth's mass is 6.6 sextillion ton (5.9722 x 1024 kilograms). It volume is 1.08321 x 1012 km.

The total surface area of Earth is about 197 million square miles (509 million square km). About 71 percent is covered by water and 29 percent by land.

TRIVIAHighest and lowest points

Mount Everest is the highest place on Earth above sea level, at 29,028 feet (8,848 meters), but it is not the highest point on Earth — that is, the place most distant from the center of the Earth. That distinction belongs to Mount Chimaborazo in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador. Although Chimaborazo is about 10,000 feet shorter (relative to sea level) than Everest, this mountain is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) farther into space because of the equatorial bulge.

The lowest point on Earth is the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. It reaches down about 36,200 feet (11,034 meters) below sea level.

— Tim Sharp, Reference Editor