Our Planet. The Earth.

SOCIAL STUDIES. Summaries in English.

UNIT 1.

OUR PLANET THE EARTH.

GLOBES AND MAPS

Our planet (The Earth) is not a perfect sphere. It is a bit flat on the Poles.
The Earth can be represented on globes and on maps. Globes adapt better to reality, but maps are easier to use and transport.

There are different types of maps

Physical Maps They represent landforms, rivers...
Political Maps. They represent countries, borders, states, ...
Theme Maps They give us informations about different aspects as climate, population, agriculture, ...

FINDING POINTS ON A MAP

We can easily locate points with the aid of a compass.
A compass always points the north. There are four points in the Compass Rose, they are north, south, east and west.

PARALLELS AND MERIDIANS.

To locate points on a map, the man has developed an imaginary net that covers the whole planet.

Meridians are imaginary lines that go from the North Pole to the South Pole.
The Prime Meridian or Greenwich Meridian divides our planet into 2 halves. Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere.

Parallels are imaginary circles that run from the Equator to the Poles. The Equator is colloquially known as The Line. The equator divides our Planet into two halves, Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere.

Meridians have always got the same size whereas Parallels become shorter as they get closer to the Poles.

LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE help us find the exact position of a point. Latitude is the distance of a point from the equator and longitude indicates the distance of a point from Greenwich Meridian.

G.P.S. Global Positioning System.
It is a machine that gives us the exact position of latitude and longitude. Its technology is satellite based so it is very accuarate and easy to transport.

SCALE
Maps represent reality in a smaller size. The scale shows the connection between the distance in a map and the distance in the real world.