Why Is Earth Round? | Earth Week Special | Planet EARTH | Dr Binocs Show | Peekaboo Kidz

Oh no, little kitty, the earth isn't flat from the top. It's all around, round and round. Plus, a chainsaw isn't a thing to play with. Sorry. Phew! Now, let me tell you about the shape of our earth. Hey friends, we all know.. I mean, apart from the flat earth community, we all know that the world is round. But, have you ever wondered why? Well, in today's episode, let us go around this question to find the answer. Zoom in! If you look at our solar system, you will see planets made of rocks, gas with rings. Without them, some are small in size while others are big. But, one factor common in all is that they are round shape. Yes, but the vital question is, why is that and what is the reason behind their round shape? Before we dwell on their shape, let us see when do we call a celestial body a planet. Well, according to IAU, for a celestial body to be called a planet, it needs to fulfill three essential criteria. First, the object should revolve around the sun. Second, the object should be spherical. And thirdly, the area around its orbit should be clear and should not have any equivalent or a bigger celestial body. Meaning, with the help of its gravity, the planet should clear asteroids and dwarf planets out of its way. So, the point number two clearly states that the planet needs to be round or spherical. But, we don't see any other shape hovering in space in the first place, isn't it friends? Most things we see are round or pretty close to it, including asteroids. So, what's going on here? Well, the answer is gravity. Yes, Earth and other planets are round because of the force of gravity that pulls equally from all sides. Gravity pulls from the center to the edges like the spokes of a bicycle wheel. This makes the overall shape of a planet round, which is a three-dimensional circle. But planets are not exactly round, but roughly spherical or oblate spheroids. Yes, if noticed carefully, you will see that the equatorial diameter of the Earth is about 43 km larger than the polar diameter. This is because, just like a spinning top, our Earth spins on its axis with a speed of 1674.4 km per hour. And this much velocity causes the planet to bulge near the equator due to centrifugal force. As things near it tend to move away like mud flying off a tire. And it's not just the Earth, but Saturn bulges the most of all the planets in our solar system. Yes, if you compare the diameter from pole to pole to the diameter along the equator, it's not the same. Saturn is 10.7% thicker around the middle, while Jupiter is 6.9% thicker around the middle. So, instead of being round like marbles, they are like basketballs squished down while someone sits on them. TRIVIA TIME! Did you know, Earth and Mars are small and don't spin around as fast as the gas giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune? Also, Jupiter is known to be the fastest spinning planet in our solar system. Hope you learnt something new in today's episode. Until next time, it's me Dr. Binocs, Zooming out! Never mind!