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Q4 (CAPF/2011) Geography › World Physical Geography › Earth rotation and time Answer Verified

Statement I: The Earth is shaped more like a tangerine. Statement I : The Earth spins faster at the Poles.

Result
Your answer: —  Â·  Correct: C
Explanation

Statement I is true as the Earth is an oblate spheroid, characterized by a bulge at the equator and flattening at the poles, a shape often compared to a tangerine or a rugby ball [c1][t5]. This shape results from the centrifugal force generated by the Earth's rotation [t1][t8]. Statement II is false because the Earth's rotational speed is not uniform across all latitudes. The linear velocity of rotation is highest at the equator (approximately 1,600 km/h) and decreases toward the poles, where it is nearly zero [t6][t7]. This is because a point at the equator must travel a much larger circumference than a point near the poles within the same 24-hour period [t6]. Therefore, the Earth spins faster at the equator, not the poles, making Statement II incorrect while Statement I remains a valid physical description.

Sources

  1. [1] Physical Geography by PMF IAS, Manjunath Thamminidi, PMF IAS (1st ed.) > Chapter 18: Latitudes and Longitudes > The Shape of The Earth and Latitudinal Heat Zones > p. 241
  2. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_bulge
  3. [3] https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/coriolis-effect/
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