Question

Latitudinal and Longitudinal extent of India is 30 degrees. Then why is the North-South extent longer than the East-West Extent?

Answer 1

Hint: Longitude is measured from the center of the Earth, which is taken as the origin. Longitudes are measured to the east with the prime meridian as the base line. Latitudes are measured in the above or below from the equator.

Complete answer: The Earth is divided into grids using the altitudes and the longitudes. The latitudes run parallel to the equator and are spaced at a distance of 111 kilometers from their predecessor. The Equator is numbered as 0 degree latitude and the North Pole and the South Poles are numbered as 90 degrees North and South Latitudes, which makes a total of 181 latitudes. However, the meridians are semicircles which connect the North Pole and the south Pole. They do not have a fixed distance from each other. There are a total of 360 meridians and the 180 degree meridian is the same meridian The maximum distance, which brings the count to 360 instead of 361. between two adjacent meridians is 111 kilometres at the equator while the minimum distance is zero at the oples. Since India lies above the equator, an extent of 30 degrees by longitudes gives a lesser extent in terms of breadth. However, the same count of latitudes give a length of bigger value as they are all evenly spaced from each other.

Note: The extent of India north to south is 3214 kilometers while it is 2933 kilometers from west to east. This is inclusive of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands which lie far below the mainland of the Indian territory.