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Earth radius (denoted as R 🜨 or R E) is the distance from the center of Earth to a point on or near its surface. Approximating the figure of Earth by an Earth spheroid (an oblate ellipsoid), the radius ranges from a maximum (equatorial radius, denoted a) of nearly 6,378 km (3,963 mi) to a minimum (polar radius, denoted b) of nearly 6,357 km (3,950 mi).
The Earth's radius is the distance from Earth's center to its surface, about 6,371 km (3,959 mi). While "radius" normally is a characteristic of perfect spheres, the Earth deviates from spherical by only a third of a percent, sufficiently close to treat it as a sphere in many contexts and justifying the term "the radius of the Earth".
The fastest-moving plates are the oceanic plates, with the Cocos Plate advancing at a rate of 75 mm/a (3.0 in/year) [127] and the Pacific Plate moving 52–69 mm/a (2.0–2.7 in/year). At the other extreme, the slowest-moving plate is the South American Plate, progressing at a typical rate of 10.6 mm/a (0.42 in/year).
Earth's circumference is the distance around Earth. Measured around the equator, it is 40,075.017 km (24,901.461 mi). Measured passing through the poles, the circumference is 40,007.863 km (24,859.734 mi). [1] Treating the Earth as a sphere, its circumference would be its single most important measurement. [2]
The square root appearing above can be eliminated for such applications as ordering locations by distance in a database query. On the other hand, some methods for computing nearest neighbors, such as the vantage-point tree , require that the distance metric obey the triangle inequality , in which case the square root must be retained.
3.48 Mm Diameter of the Moon: 5.2 Mm Typical distance covered by the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans automobile endurance race 6.259 Mm Length of the Great Wall of China: 6.371 Mm Average radius of Earth: 6.378 Mm Equatorial radius of Earth 6.6 Mm Approximate length of the two longest rivers, the Nile and the Amazon: 7.821 Mm
This diagram gives a visual analogue using a square: regardless of the size of the square, the added perimeter is the sum of the four blue arcs, a circle with the same radius as the offset. More formally, let c be the Earth's circumference, r its radius, Δc the added string length and Δr the added radius.
This page was last edited on 9 November 2007, at 12:34 (UTC).; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License; additional terms may apply.