Why is the Earth round

The spherical shape of the earth, and for that matter many other planets as well, suggests the presence of a central force that results into a uniform pull at all points of the earth’s surface. And this is precisely the gist of the explanation behind the spherical shape of the earth. Believed to have formed from colossal gas clouds about half a billion years back, the earth has a force called the force of gravitation operating from its centre.

This force is extremely potent and powerful, plus it acts with the same intensity at equidistant points. Thus, the surfaces at same distances from the epicenter of this force get pulled inwards to the same degree. Acting all around, this force shapes the surface of the earth in the form of an irregular sphere. Also, the air all around pressurizes the inwards bound periphery of the earth and helps in strengthening the outline of the sphere. There are also suggestions that the rotation of the earth also contributes to the spherical shape. This is due to the magnetic field associated with spinning objects. In fact, in the absence of such a force, the shape of the earth would have been haphazard. An interesting thing to note here is that even though there is general agreement over the geometry of the earth being spherical, the issue demands a slightly closer look. This is because the earth has many kinds of terrains like valleys, plateaus and mountains. Their dissimilar geographical identities mean that the spherical tag for the earth’s shape is not exactly precise.

The fact is that the earth actually bulges as we approach the equator and shows greater resemblance to a sphere as we gain proximity to the poles. An interesting theory about the shape of the earth states that before the actual formation of the earth, there was a period when it was just a mess of molten material. But it kept on whirling at high speed around the sun, and the molten content solidified to give the earth a spherical form. However, it is pretty safe to attribute this to the combination of the centrifugal force and the gravitational pull.