Longitudes and latitudes by
JohnBosco Otundo
6
What are longitudes?
These are imaginary lines that run from North Pole to South pole.
Longitudes are also called Meridians.
Which is the the main longitude?
Find the prime meridian from the picture.
Answer
The greenwich meridian which is 0°. There are 360 prime meridians. 180 of them are to the west of the greenwich meridian while the other 180 are to the east.
What are latitudes?
They are imaginary lines that run from West to East.
The main latitude is the equator [marked 0°]
Look for the equator in the picture below.
The equator divides the earth into Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere.
There are 180° latitudes in total. 90° of them are to the north of the equator and the other 90° to the south of the equator. Do you know of any other latitudes? The other longitudes include:
How do longitudes and latitudes help us?
They help us to give the position of a place when used together with the latitudes.
How do we locate position of a place in a map using longitudes and latitudes?
Here is a clue from the picture.
We start with the latitudes followed by the longitudes.
For example
Can you tell the position of the circle?
It is between 10°N and 15°N and 15°E and 20°E.
Look at the map of East Africa.
Assigment
Can you give the position of East Africa using longitudes and latitudes?
Answer
East Africa lies between 23°E and 52°E, 22°N and 12°S.
Assignment two
- The lines that run from West to east are called_____
- The main latitude is the____which is ___°
- The lines that run from North to South are called___
- The main longitude is the____
- The longitude and the latitude used together give _________of a place in map.
- The earth is divided into the ____and the_____hemispheres by the____
- There are____lines of longitudes on the west and east of the prime meridian.
Answers
- The lines that run from West to east are called latitudes.
- The main latitude is the equator which is 0°
- The lines that run from North to South pole are called the longitudes.
- The main meridian is the greenwich meridian
- The longitudes and latitudes used together give the position of a place in a map.
- The earth is divided into the northern and southern hemispheres by the equator.
- There are 180° lines of longitudes on the west and east of the prime meridian.
