• Question: why is the aerth round?

    Asked by fudgemonkeys to David, Luna, Mark, Melanie, Probash on 24 Mar 2011 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Luna Munoz

      Luna Munoz answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Gravity pulls from all directions. So any shape that is not a sphere will encounter a gravitational pull to shape it into a sphere. There is also the centrifugal force of a spinning Earth, which forces the Earth to bulge slightly at the equator (like a spinning top shape). So that’s how the Earth got its lovely figure 😉

    • Photo: David Pyle

      David Pyle answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Because this is the most stable shape for a rotating object with large mass (hence large gravitational field) which is able to flow or creep slowly internally.

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