Most of us, the word "equator" is associated with the line that divides our globe into two halves.In this regard, it is not surprising that people are asking: what is the equator?Equator - is the imaginary line that exactly intersects the surface of our earth a plane, which is considered to be perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the planet, and runs right through the center.From the Latin word «aequator» translated as "equalizer."This line - conventional start to count latitude equal to 0 degrees at the equator.
length of the equator is 40 075 676 km, other lines (parallels) is always less than its length.Throughout his lines constantly day is night.It equator divides the planet into two hemispheres, North and South.Twice a year, during the autumn and spring equinox, the sun is on it is at its zenith.The vernal equinox falls on March 20-21, and in the fall - September 23.These days the sun is directly overhead, and the objects do not cast shadows.
length equator scientists calculated according to the formula 2πR, despite the fact that the Earth is not spherical shape, and extended in the form of an ellipse (a ball, flattened at the poles).However, the radius of the planet provisionally adopted for the radius of the sphere.The length of the earth at the equator is the longest line encircling the Earth.An interesting fact is that it crosses 14 countries.
If we move from the Greenwich meridian to the East, the equator crosses the states such as Sao Tome and Principe in the Atlantic Ocean, then Gabon, Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Somalia in Africa.Moving along the Indian Ocean, it passes through the Maldives and Indonesia.In the Pacific, Kiribati and the equator crosses the island Baker belonging to the US, then - Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil, which are located on the South American continent.These countries are the hottest on the planet.
length of the equator for the first time was calculated by the ancient Greek scholar Eratosthenes, who was not only a great mathematician, geographer, poet and astronomer.By measuring the time during which the sun's rays reach the bottom of the well, the scientist was able to calculate the radius of the globe and find out what the length of the equator.These calculations are very rough, but they give a lot to future generations of scientists to more accurately calculate the length of the imaginary line.Kirensk Eratosthenes was born in 276 BCand died in 194 BC
It was one of the greatest scientists of the ancient world.He was born in the Greek city of Cyrene, and at the invitation of King Ptolemy III Euergetes headed the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.This great scientist died of starvation in terrible poverty, but went down in history as an astute researcher with an extraordinary approach to science.The length of the equator Eratosthenes equaled 252 thousand furlongs, that is 39 690 km.The creator of the mathematical and physical geography, Eratosthenes made great discoveries in many areas.Modern man is very difficult to understand how a scientist with no instruments, has calculated what the length of the equator, with an error of only 386 kilometers.
Many scientists and mathematicians, astronomers, and later also tried to calculate the length of the equator.Dutch Snell in the early XVII century, offered to calculate this value without obstacles encountered.In the XVIII century such calculations seriously involved scientists from France.The Russians are also not left behind and have contributed to the science, which allowed us to determine what is the length of the earth at the equator.The director of the Pulkovo Observatory V.Ya.Struve spent the measurement in degrees in the period from 1822 to 1852 years, and in 1941 the Soviet scientist and surveyor FNKrasovsky was able to calculate the length of the terrestrial ellipse from which repel modern scientists all over the world, as it is recognized as the benchmark.
