Spheroid

High school (ages 12+)
Mathematics & Numbers

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/spheroid

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the types of spheroids?Prolate (elongated) and Oblate (flattened)
2. What is the geodetic model of earth?The Earth is approximated by an oblate spheroid (reference ellipsoid)
3. How does a spheroid look compared to a sphere?It looks like a squashed or stretched ball. A sphere is a special spheroid where all dimensions are equal.
4. Why is Earth an oblate spheroid?Earth spins, and the spinning pushes the equator outward, making it wider at the middle and flatter at the poles.

Ellipsoid of Revolution: A 3D shape formed by rotating an ellipse around one of its axes.
Principal Axes: The main lines of symmetry passing through the center of an ellipse.
Quadric Surface: A 3D surface defined by a second-degree polynomial equation.