What is the meaning of a spheroid?

What is the meaning of a spheroid?

: a figure resembling a sphere also : an object of approximately spherical shape. Other Words from spheroid Example Sentences Learn More About spheroid.

Is Earth a ellipsoid or spheroid?

The earth’s shape is a spheroid. Although the earth’s shape is technically an ellipsoid, its major and minor axes do not vary greatly. In fact, its shape is so close to a sphere that it is often called a spheroid rather than an ellipsoid. A spheroid is simply an ellipsoid that approximates a sphere.

Is Earth oblate or prolate?

To be more precise, the earth rotates about its shortest axis, or minor axis, and is therefore described as an oblate ellipsoid. The earth is not a perfect sphere but an oblate ellipsoid. If it rotated about its major (longer) axis, it would be described as a prolate ellipsoid.

What is a spheroid in geography?

Definition of a spheroid A spheroid, or ellipsoid, is a sphere flattened at the poles. The shape of an ellipse is defined by two radii. The longer radius is called the semimajor axis, and the shorter radius is called the semiminor axis.

What is an example of a spheroid?

Prolate spheroids Examples are Saturn’s satellites Mimas, Enceladus, and Tethys and Uranus’ satellite Miranda. In contrast to being distorted into oblate spheroids via rapid rotation, celestial objects distort slightly into prolate spheroids via tidal forces when they orbit a massive body in a close orbit.

Is Earth a ellipsoid?

The Earth is an irregularly shaped ellipsoid. While the Earth appears to be round when viewed from the vantage point of space, it is actually closer to an ellipsoid. However, even an ellipsoid does not adequately describe the Earth’s unique and ever-changing shape.

Which is the correct definition of a spheroid?

Spheroids with vertical rotational axes. oblate. prolate. A spheroid, or ellipsoid of revolution, is a quadric surface obtained by rotating an ellipse about one of its principal axes; in other words, an ellipsoid with two equal semi-diameters.

What is the definition of an oblate spheroid?

A body that is shaped like a sphere but is not perfectly round, especially an ellipsoid that is generated by revolving an ellipse around one of its axes. sphe′roi·dic′i·ty (-dĭs′ĭ-tē) n.

Which is the best spheroid for the geoid?

A particular spheroid can be selected for use in a specific geographic area, because that particular spheroid does an exceptionally good job of mimicking the geoid for that part of the world. For North America, the spheroid of choice is GRS 1980, on which the North American Datum 1983 (NAD83) is based.

What kind of shape is an ellipsoid spheroid?

For the remainder of this article, the term spheroid will be used. A spheroid is a three-dimensional shape created from a two-dimensional ellipse. The ellipse is an oval, with a major axis (the longer axis) and a minor axis (the shorter axis). If you rotate the ellipse, the shape of the rotated figure is the spheroid.