BY GUGHANESWARAN DANERPALAN
ASTRONAUTS call Earth as a blue marble since it looks like a perfect round ball. However, Earth is not perfectly round and closer to ellipsoid but why did earth turn to be round and not cube or pyramid? It is because of gravity! 4.6 billion years ago scientists theorised that the solar system was a cloud of dust and gas. Earth’s rocky core was the first part of the planet to form before lighter pieces gathered and formed Earth’s crust. As more materials began to bump and clump together when a gravitational force acts to hold all the stuff together.
[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”block” ihc_mb_who=”unreg” ihc_mb_template=”3″ ]Gravity pulled the small rocky and icy parts towards each other until they get stuck together. Matter takes the most efficient shape as possible to hold everything together and turn it to be spherical. If Earth was in cube shape its corners would be further away from the centre. Since gravity acts equally on everything the corners need to be pulled closer to the centre. Earth could not be considered a perfectly round-shaped planet because of the force caused when Earth rotates. High mountain ranges and deep ocean trenches also contribute to Earth’s slightly irregular shape. [/ihc-hide-content]
