Question

The latitudinal and longitudinal extent of India is 30 º. However, the distance between the easternmost and westernmost points of India is 2933km while the distance the northern most point southernmost point of India is 3214km. Explain why this is so.

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

That's because the distance between two latitudes remains the same throughout, but the distance between two longitudes keeps reducing as we move towards the poles. The distance between two latitudes is always 111 km, but the distance between two longitudes is 111 km at the equator and reduces to 0 at the poles. For clarification view any diagram of earth's latitudes and longitudes.

For easy understanding India's north- south extent and distance remains unchanged. But due to curvature of the earth and the decrease in distance between two consecutive longitudes, the east-west extent kind of bends like a 'U' which reduces the actual east-west distance while the east-west extent remains unchanged.

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