Earth’s Sphericity, Rotation and Revolution. - SS1 Geography Past Questions and Answers - page 2

The Coriolis effect is the deflection of moving objects, like air and water, caused by the Earth's rotation. It makes things curve rather than moving in a straight line, and it's responsible for the rotation direction of storms and global wind patterns.

The changing position of the Earth during its revolution around the Sun leads to the four seasons. When a hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, it experiences summer, and when tilted away, it's winter. Spring and autumn occur during the transitional periods in between.

One piece of evidence supporting the Earth's sphericity is the different constellations visible when you travel north or south. This happens because your line of sight changes with the Earth's curvature.

Earth's shape is slightly flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator due to its rotation. It's like a squished sphere, known as an oblate spheroid, with the equator being farther from the center.

Long-term effects of Earth's orbital variations, like eccentricity, influence climate patterns and can lead to the timing of ice ages. They affect how much sunlight the Earth receives, which, in turn, impacts the climate and geological events over thousands of years.