Chapter 2
Latitude and Longitude
Learning outcomes
What is latitude?
What is equator?
What are other important latitudes?
What is longitude?
How longitude measure time of a place?
What is international date line?
What is Indian Standard Time?
Warm Up activity (Observation and Critical Thinking)
Anita: Mother my friend is travelling to New York, USA. How can we
locate New York and what would be the time there?
Mummy: Anita Let us look at the globe. We will find our answers
looking at a globe or a map.
The earth is spherical in shape. It is shaped like an orange, slightly flattened at the North and
South Pole and bulging out in the middle. The Earth is also tilted at an angle. The Earth
rotates in this angle called the axis. When you look at the globe, you will see many lines
crisscrossing the Earth. In this lesson we will learn what these imaginary lines are and how
we use them to locate a place on the Earth.
<H1> Latitudes or Parallels Pls ask typesetter to write “0º equator”
on the line
Look at the globe, you will see many
lines on it. These lines are imaginary
lines. They go round the globe. They
form a circle. They do not touch each
other at all. They are called latitudes
or parallels. All latitudes are
measured in degrees. The line that
goes around the middle of the globe
is called the equator. The equator
divides the
The equator divides the earth into two halves.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_with_equator.jpg
earth into two equal halves called hemispheres. They are called the Northern Hemisphere
and the Southern Hemisphere.
There are other lines also going around the globe. The other
important lines are Tropic of Cancer, Arctic Circle and North Pole
in the northern hemisphere. These lines are marked as N.
The Tropic of Capricorn, Antarctic Circle and South Pole are in the
southern hemisphere. These lines are marked as S. Latitudes tell
us how far away a place is from the equator.
The important latitudes dividing the Earth Pls ask TS to redo the
names on the lines
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paralelos_notables1.png
Research activity HOTS
In which hemisphere is
Find out the names of three countries
India located?
located in the Southern Hemisphere.
<H1> Longitudes or Meridians
Look at the globe again, there are imaginary lines running from
the top of the globe meeting at the bottom. They are called
longitudes or Meridians. The longitudes are half circles.
The longitudes run from the top of
the globe to the bottom.
https://study.com/learn/lesson/prime-meridian-map.html (please redo the picture)
The main longitude is called the Prime
Meridian. The places on the left of the
Prime Meridian are called Western
Hemisphere. They are marked as W. The
places on the right of the Prime Meridian are called Eastern Hemisphere. They are marked as
E.
Longitudes are used for measuring time in any part of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_%28geography%29
The Prime Meridian passes through Greenwich, England
Research activity
Find out the time in
Singapore.
<H1> Measuring Time
The Earth rotates from west to east. We see the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
The earth takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. When the Prime Meridian has 12O’clock
all the places on the meridian will have the same.
The places in the east of the Prime Meridian will be ahead and the places in the west of the
Prime meridian would be behind.
Research activity
Find out whether India is
ahead of the time in Prime
Meridian or not.
<H1> International Date Line (IDL)
The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line. It runs from the North to the South
Pole. This line is in opposite of the Prime Meridian. The line passes through the middle of the
Pacific Ocean. The line tells us the day of the week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone
The map shows how the Earth is
divided into 24 time zones
Research activity
How many standard times
does India have?
<H1> Indian Standard Time (IST)
The main longitude that India follows passes through
the town of Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. This is used to
tell the time in India. It is called the Indian Standard
Time. India is in the east of Prime Meridian.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IST-
Mirzapur.svg
Fast Fact (give as footnote) Indian Standard Meridian passes
through Mirzapur
USA has 6 time zones. China has only one official time zone.
Discussion Question
Where does the International Date Line pass through?
Glossary
Parallels: lines that do not meet each other at all
Equator: the imaginary line that divides the earth into two halves
Time zone: an area on the globe that has the same clock time
Meridian: an imaginary line that passes through a place on the earth’s surface
Crisscrossing: lines going one across another
Bulging: swollen
Imaginary: only in the mind
Classroom Discussion
When airplanes fly from one country to another do they calculate the local time of the
country they land?
Exercise
A. Choose the correct option.
1. What does the letter N and S denote in a map or globe?
a. It denotes north and south in a map/globe.
b. It denotes no and yes in a map/globe.
c. It does not denote anything
d. It denotes equator and latitude.
2. What are meridians?
a. Meridian is a place on earth.
b. Meridians are circles that stop at the equator.
c. Meridians show the different dates in a calendar
d. Meridians are imaginary lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole vertically.
3. How does the earth rotate on its axis?
a. It does not rotate at all.
b. It rotates west to east.
c. It rotates north to south.
d. It rotates east to west.
4. The line that shows the days of the week___________.
a. Indian Standard Time
b. Equator
c. Prime Meridian
d. International Date Line
5. Where does the central longitude pass through in India?
a. Delhi
b. Kolkata
c. Mirzapur
d. Mumbai
B. Answer the following questions.
1. State two differences between latitudes and longitudes.
2. Why do we need imaginary lines like the latitudes and longitudes?
3. What is Prime Meridian? Which degree of longitude is it?
4. What is Indian Standard Time?
5. What is International Date Line?
C. Fill in the blanks.
1. The _________ ____________ divides the earth into east and west hemisphere.
2. The top and bottom most points on the globe is called ________________ and ___________.
3. The places east of Prime Meridian would be ___________ and the places west would be
______________.
4. The _________________ is almost opposite of the Prime Meridian.
5. The Mirzapur longitude is the calculates the ____________________.
D. Think and Answer.
You want to watch a tennis match taking place in Melbourne, Australia. The matches begin at
11 a.m. local time. What time would you switch on the television to watch the match in India?
Project
On the figure of the globe given below. Mark the equator, Tropic of Capricorn and Cancer, Arctic and
Antarctic Circles and the North and South Poles.
To the designer: draw the same picture without the red lines.
Research Activity
Read an abridged version of the book ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ by Jules Verne. Find out how
Phileas Fogg wins the bet even though he thought he had lost it.
Introduction
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