Question

The longitude and latitude extend remain the same but east and west distance appear to be smaller than north and south. Give reasons

Answer 1

The latitudinal extent of India from Kashmir to Kanniyakumari is 37°6′N to 8°4′N and the longitudinal extent of India from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh is 68°7′E to 97°25′E. Both of these extent are approximately of 30° . But the actual distance from North to South is 3214 km , while from east to west is 2933 km.

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.

Hope it helps.