For children: The universe tells the story of Earth, its most special planet

Earth is quite special among its rocky terrestrial friends: Mercury, Venus and Mars. It is the biggest and heaviest of this group. If you think about it, Earth is quite big – about 12,700 kilometres across. But then, there is Jupiter, which is way bigger and heavier than Earth. It is like the big brother of the Solar System.

What is interesting about Earth is its shape. You might think it is just a sphere, like the rest of the planets. But Earth or any other planet in your Solar System is not a perfect sphere.

Yes. You read it right. Earth is more like a squashed ball, known as an oblate spheroid. This means Earth is slightly stretched at the equator and flattened at the poles. Now, you might wonder, why isn’t Earth perfectly round? The answer lies in something called centrifugal force.

Centrifugal force is the outward force felt by objects that are spinning. Imagine spinning around in a chair or on your feet. You will feel a force pulling you away from the centre and your arms or legs might stretch out. Or picture yourself on a merry-go-round – you feel a bit of extra force acting on you, tugging…

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