At characteristic of the continent after its name it, as a rule, comes to its extent. Extent is important not only for travelers, but also for geologists, designers, builders of roads, oil pipelines and gas pipelines. These geographical data are widely used in astronautics, in the natural and exact sciences.
It is required to you
- - card of hemispheres;
- - globe.
Instruction
1. For measurement of extent of the continent from the North on the South and from the West on the East the mesh system of coordinates (width - longitude) consisting of parallels and meridians – the imagined lines on the Earth's surface where the width and longitude are the coordinates defining the provision of these points is used. Parallels and meridians are visually represented on globes and maps.
2. For determination of extent of the set continent from the North on the South find the most southern and most northern its points on the card. Usually on all maps they are designated. The difference between them will correspond to continent extent from the North on the South. So, for example, if one of final points is located on 75o northern latitude, and opposite to it on 40o the same width, then it is easy to count a difference – 35 lakes. The similar method is used when determining extent from the West on the East.
3. Further you pass to calculations. Extent is measured in kilometers. Meridians have identical length, and to each their degree there correspond about 111 kilometers. It was necessary to increase the received number of degrees by 111, and you receive required result – continent extent from the North on the South.
4. A bit different picture with parallels as all of them differ from each other on length. The most extended parallel is the equator – 40075.7 km. To the north of and to the south of the equator there pass the parallels called northern and southern latitudes. The distance between the next parallels differing on 10 is equal about 111.11 kilometers. On cards and globes the distance between the next latitudes usually makes 150 or 1666 kilometers. To determine required size it is necessary to increase it by the number of degrees which were received at calculation earlier. For an example we will measure meridian extent from the North Pole to the equator. As length of an arch of a meridian is equal 900, 111 kilometers increase by 900. 9900 kilometers turn out.