• Question: why is the world round????

    Asked by emilyhughes to Amelia, Jim, Liz on 23 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Amelia Markey

      Amelia Markey answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      I’m not totally sure, good question though!

      It’s probably a combination of factors. It’s probably to do with the fact the Earth is constantly spinning and the way gravity acts on the Earth.

      Oooh wait I’ve just found a good website about it:

      http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=19

      Hopefully this will explain 🙂

    • Photo: Jim Caryl

      Jim Caryl answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Yes, absolutely, it is due to gravity. If an object has enough mass, it will slowly crush itself down into a sphere – though if that object has a spin, it may bulge at the axis of its spin.

      It is also one of the defining characteristics of an object being big enough to warrant being classed as a ‘planetoid’, the fact that it is large enough to collapse to a sphere under its own gravitational pull. Most meteors, even the enormous Ceres, are not quite big enough to be spherical.

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