Earth smaller than thought

[Owlscrying]

July 6

Bonn, Germany - German researchers say their discovery that the Earth is smaller than originally thought may have serious ramifications for climate change.

The difference is minute -- all of five millimeters -- but that is crucial to studying how climate changes the Earth, said researchers at Bonn University.

Five millimeters (0.2 inches) is less than half the width of an average finger, which may seem negligible in comparison to the earth's diameter of 7,926.3812 miles.

The researchers also found that Europe and North America are drifting apart from each other at a rate of about 0.7 inches per year.

Earth’s circumference varies depending on how scientists measure it because it is not a perfect sphere. Rather, our planet's rotation causes the equatorial region to bulge, making it an oblate spheroid that resembles a vertically squashed beach ball.

Earth is also lumpy, with mass distributed unevenly both inside the planet and on its surface. These two things together means gravity varies from point to point on Earth, so that your weight can actually vary from one location to another.

go

[Captain Kolak]

Makes sense

[Bella-Angelique]

I wonder where the most intense points of gravity are? Seems those would make excellent sites for athletic conditioning and those where it is lightest would be best for the elderly to live in retirement.

[Bear's Quest]

I alwaya thought the Earth was never a perfect sphere, with the moon pulling one way and the rotational from our axis.

I'd thought we(Earth) was egg shaped slightly, cause of the hugh Pacific Ocean on one side and more land on the other.