GEOG 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Great Circle, Circle Of A Sphere, Spheroid

• School: Towson University
• Department: Geography and Environmental Planning
• Course: GEOG 101
• Professor: Kang Lu

Document Summary

Pythagoras 580-500bc: earth and the other planets must be spheres, since the most harmonious geometric solid form is a sphere. Aristotle 384 322bc: earth is a sphere of (cid:858)(cid:374)o great size(cid:859) pro(cid:448)ed (cid:449)ith fi(cid:448)e e(cid:448)ide(cid:374)(cid:272)es. Eratosthenes 276-194 bc: earth(cid:859)s (cid:272)ir(cid:272)u(cid:373)fere(cid:374)(cid:272)e (cid:449)as first (cid:373)easured as (cid:1006)(cid:1009)(cid:1004),(cid:1004)(cid:1004)(cid:1004) stades. Great circle*: cuts the globe in half (the arch distance) I(cid:374)terse(cid:272)tio(cid:374) of earth(cid:859)s surfa(cid:272)e a(cid:374)d a pla(cid:374)e passi(cid:374)g through earth(cid:859)s (cid:272)e(cid:374)ter: great circle routes shortest, hemispheres, circle of illumination. I(cid:374)terse(cid:272)tio(cid:374) of earth(cid:859)s surfa(cid:272)e a(cid:374)d a pla(cid:374)e (cid:374)ot passi(cid:374)g through earth(cid:859)s (cid:272)e(cid:374)ter: small circle cut out of a section of the globe. Network of parallels and meridians used to fix location on the earth. Meridian = north to south li(cid:374)es o(cid:374) earth(cid:859)s surfa(cid:272)e (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:374)e(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g the poles. Parallels = east to west: (cid:272)ir(cid:272)le o(cid:374) the earth(cid:859)s surfa(cid:272)e, lyi(cid:374)g o(cid:374) a plane parallel to the equator. Intersection of meridians and parallels makes up the geographic grid. Horizontal lines look at pp for pictures.