WBBSE Solutions For Class 6 Geography Chapter 3 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude

WBBSE Chapter 3 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Analytical Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1. What will you say if someone asks you —”Where do you stand on the Earth?” Or, How will you determine your location on the surface of the Earth? Or, Where exactly is the location of your city? How can we ascertain it?
Answer:

Our location on the surface of the Earth:

There are two methods by which we can determine our location on the surface of the Earth.

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These are—

Location on a plane: In this case, we can determine the location with the help of two perpendicular lines. For instance, say we have to determine the location of point ‘P’ on a rectangular field ABCD.

Two perpendicularly intersecting lines QR and ST are drawn parallel to AB and BC respectively, that intersect each other at the point P.

By measuring the length of AT and AQ, we can determine the location of point P. The location of P is (AT, AQ).

Location on the spherical surface of the Earth: To locate a place on the spherical surface of the Earth, we need to know the angular distance of the place from the point of reference.

The intersection point between the latitudes and the longitudes is the best possible way to determine a point on the Earth’s surface. For example, Kolkata has located the North Pole on 22 34 north.

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This means that Kolkata is located on the latitude 22° 34′ away from towards the north, in the northern hemisphere. Similarly, Kolkata is located 88°30′ east.

This means that Kolkata is located on the longitude 88°30′ away from the Prime Meridian Towards the east, in the eastern hemisphere.

WBBSE Class 6 Meridians of Longitude Notes

 

Question 2. What are the characteristics of longitude?
Answer:

The characteristics of longitudes are as follows—

Shape and size: All the longitudes are half circles and are of the same length, which is half the circumference of the Earth.

They are not parallel to each other and they join the North Pole to the South Pole.

Longitudinal value: The lowest possible longitudinal value is 0° and the highest possible longitudinal value is 180°. The angular value of longitude is 180°.

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Local time: Places on the same longitude have the same local time. All of them experience sunrise, midday and sunset at the same time. Places on different longitudes have different local times.

Climatic difference: Places located on the same longitude do not have the same climatic conditions.

Value towards east or west: As we move away from the Prime Meridian towards the east or the west, the angular value of the longitudes increases.

Inter-longitudinal distance: The distance between two consecutive longitude decreases as we move from the Equator towards the poles.

Question 3. Write the differences between parallels and meridians.
Answer:

The difference between parallels and meridians are as follows-

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Short Analytical Type Question

Question 1. What do you mean by lines of longitude?
Answer:

Lines of longitude:

The imaginary, semicircular lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole and intersecting the Equator at right angles are called the Line of longitudes of meridians.

Question 2. Write a short note on Prime Meridian.
Answer:

Prime Meridian:

An International Meridian Conference was held in October 1884, in Washington DC to determine a Prime Meridian for international uses.

In this conference, it was decided that the meridian passing through the Royal Observatory of Greenwich near London would be taken as the Prime Meridian. Its value would be 0°.

Common Questions About Longitude Lines

Special characteristics: Some special characteristics of the Prime Meridian are—

1. The value of the Prime Meridian is 0°.
2. Directly opposite to it is the 180° line of longitude or the International Date Line.
3. This line divides the Earth into two equal hemispheres—east and west.
4. This line passes over the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, so it’s also called the Greenwich Line.

Question 3. What is a great circle?
Answer:

Great circle:

Any circle that is drawn on the Earth’s surface that shares the same centre with that of the Earth itself, is called a Great Circle.

Characteristics: The characteristics of a Great Circle are—

1. Great Circle is the largest possible circle drawn on the surface of the Earth.
2. The centre of any Great Circle and the centre of the Earth will always coincide.

Example: Equator is the largest circulation among all the latitudes. Moreover, the centre of the Equator coincides with the centre of the Earth.

Hence, the Equator is a perfect example of a Great Circle. Also, any two diametrically opposite longitudes can be joined together to form a Great Circle.

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Question 4. Which is the shortest path when you are travelling from X to X7 the straight path or the curved path?
Answer:

The shortest distance between two points on the surface of spherical Earth is the route along the arc of a great circle that connects those two points.

This route is called the geodesic or great circle route. But this route can be confusing when we are looking at a 2-dimensional map like in the question.

Apparently, the straight-line route is shorter. However, a straight line on a 2-dimensional map is not the same as a straight line on a 3-dimensional globe.

This is why flights take an arcing route between an origin and a destination. This is also common in navigation and sailing.

Therefore, the curved path along the great circle route is the shortest path from X to X’.

Question 5. What is meant by longitude?
Answer:

Longitude:

The angular distance of a place, east or west from the Prime Meridian, measured in degrees from the centre of the Earth is known as longitude.

In the given, the angular distance of ‘Q’ from the Prime Meridian ‘P’ is 88o30′ when measured at the centre of the Earth. Thus, the longitudinal value of ‘Q’ is 88°30′. Similarly, Kolkata is at 88°24’E longitude.

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Characteristics: Some characteristics of longitudes are as follows—

All places to the east of the Prime Meridian up to 180° are part of the eastern hemisphere and all places lying west of the Prime Meridian till 180° longitude are part of the western hemisphere.

The highest value of longitude is 180° and the lowest is 0° (Prime Meridian).

Question 6. Why does Sunrise earlier in the countries situated east of the Prime Meridian?
Answer:

Sunrise earlier in the countries situated east of the Prime Meridian:

The Earth revolves around the Sun while rotating on its own axis from west to east. As a result, in any place on Earth, the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

That is why, if you take any two points on the Earth, the one that is further east will experience sunrise, noon and sunset before the other place.

Thus that the further east the longitude is from the Prime Meridian, the earlier will be the sunrise, noon and sunset.

Question 7. The local time of places is different even at two consecutive places meridians/—Explain why?
Answer:

The local time of places is different even at two consecutive places meridians:

The meridians of the Earth are semicircular and extend from north to south. Since the Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours, each meridian faces the Sun directly once every 24 hours.

When the Sun is directly overhead on any line of longitude, it is noon at places on that longitude. The local time of a place on this longitude is measured with reference to noon at this place.

Therefore, places on each line of longitude experience noon only once every 24 hours and each longitude experiences it at different points in time.

That is why even places on consecutive lines of longitude have different local times.

Question 8. Why are lines of latitude also called parallels?
Answer:

Lines of latitude also called parallels:

Lines of latitude are imaginary circular lines running along the surface of the Earth from east to west.

Unlike the meridians of longitude that meet at the poles, the latitudes are parallel lines that never meet each other. Thus, they are also called parallels.

Question 9. Why are lines of Longitudinal called meridians?
Answer:

Lines of Longitudinal called meridians:

The line connecting all points on the surface of the Earth that are equidistant from the Prime Meridian are called meridians or lines of longitude.

This word originates from the Latin word ‘meridian’, which means ‘noon’. This is because the Sun is directly overhead a meridian at noon.

It is also with respect to the time of noon at that meridian, that local time at places on the meridian is determined.

Question 10. ‘All places on a line of latitude have similar climate/—Why?
Answer:

All places on a line of latitude have similar climate:

The imaginary lines joining all points on the Earth’s surface which are at an equal angular distance from the centre of the Earth are called lines of latitude.

Sunrays fall on each particular latitude on the Earth at a specific angle. The Sun’s rays fall straight on the low latitudes (0°-231/2° N and S) and that is why all the places on these latitude experience the hottest temperatures.

In the middle latitudes (23/4°-66>20 N and S), the Sun’s rays fall obliquely and so, the places are cooler.

In the high latitudes (661/2°-90o N and S), the Sun’s rays fall at even greater angles and so the places experience the coldest climate.

So, we see that the places on a line of latitude experience similar types of climate and a difference in latitude causes a difference in prevailing temperature.

Question 11. Look At The Globe And Fill Up The Table.

Answer:

 

Interpretation and Application: This segment will test whether the students have understood topics or whether they are just memorising them.

Question 12. Tick out the significant parallels of latitude that you would find passing through the following countries. Which of the parallels is/are found to be passing through none of these countries? Look for satisfactory explanations for this.
Answer:

The significant parallels passing through the countries are

No country is found on the Antarctic Circle (66½º South). The reason is that the presence of landmass around this region is very less.

The Antarctic Circle majorly passes through the Southern Ocean. The Antarctic Circle also passes through some parts of the coast of Antarctica.

Question 13. Latitude helps us understand how far north or south a place is located on the surface of the Earth. But how would you get to know how far east or west a place is located on the Earth’s surface? A little confused, are you? Let’s make it a bit more lucid.
Answer:

With the help of parallels of latitude, it is possible to know how far north or how far south the location of a place is. But, it is not possible to know how far east or west the location is.

Since parallels are full circles, the position of a place cannot be known with the help of the parallels alone.

So semi-circular meridians of longitude from the North Pole to the South Pole are imagined, which intersect the parallels at a 90° angle. These meridians determine how far east or west the place is located.

With the help of the intersection points between parallels and meridians, it is possible to locate the position of any place on the Earth’s surface.

Questioning and Experimentation: This segment will investigate the student’s understanding of the subject, questioning capacity, ability to explain and apply and urge for experimentation.

Look at the globe and write it down …..

Question 14. Fill in the knowledge hive with information on the important lines of latitude.

Answer:

1. Equator (0°) is a Great Circle.

2. 2334° North and 2334° South are called Topic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, respectively.

3. 6634° North and 6634° South are called Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle, respectively.

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1. What do you understand by the lines of longitude?
Answer:

Lines of longitude:

The semicircular, imaginary lines running from the North Pole to the South Pole and intersecting the Equator at right angles are called lines of longitude.

They are equal in length but not parallel to each other. They are also called meridians.

Question 2. What is the Prime Meridian?
Answer:

Prime Meridian:

The line of longitude that is imagined to pass through the Greenwich Observatory in London, is called the Prime Meridian. It is considered to have a value of 0°.

Practice Questions on Longitude and Time Zones

Question 3. What is meant by the eastern and western hemispheres?
Answer:

Eastern and western hemispheres:

Eastern hemisphere: The area on the right side of the Prime Meridian is called the eastern hemisphere.

Western hemisphere: The area on the left side of the Prime Meridian is called the western hemisphere.

Question 4. What is meant by the geographic grid?
Answer:

Geographic grid:

The grid pattern that results because of the intersection of the imaginary lines of latitude and longitude on the surface of the Earth is known as the geographic grid or coordinate system.

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This allows us to assign a mathematical value to the location of any place on the planet.

Question 5. In the illustration below, one example is given of how you identify the location. In that way, identify the locations of the marked points.
Answer:

Question 6. Identify and write down the important parallels of latitude.

Answer:

1. The Equator,
2. Tropic of Cancer
3. Tropic of Capricorn,
4. Arctic Circle,
5. Antarctic Circle.

Question 7. Through which continents and which countries does the equator pass?
Answer:

The names of the countries belonging to the continents through which the equator passes are-

Question 8. Find at least five countries each from the northern and southern hemispheres and note down their names.
Answer:

Countries from the northern hemisphere-

1. India,
2. China,
3. Japan,
4. Sri Lanka,
5. Canada
6. Germany
7. Sweden, etc.

Countries from the southern hemisphere:

1. Australia,
2. New Zealand,
3. Argentina,
4. Uruguay,
5. Peru,
6. Namibia,
7. Zimbabwe, etc.

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Miscellaneous Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question 1. What is the most important line of longitude?
Answer: Prime Meridian (0°).

Question 2. Where do we start counting the meridians?
Answer: Prime Meridian (0°).

Question 3. What is the name of the imaginary line extending from north to south and passing through Greenwich, London?
Answer: Prime Meridian.

Question 4. How many lines of longitude have been imagined at 10° intervals from the Prime Meridian in easterly and westerly directions?
Answer: 36.

Question 5. Apart from the Prime Meridian, how many lines of longitude are there?
Answer: 359.

Question 6. With reference to which lines do we calculate time?
Answer: Lines of longitude.

Question 7. Which line mostly follows the 180° longitude?
Answer: International Date Line.

Question 8. Which line of latitude is called the Great Circle?
Answer: The Equator.

Question 9. Equator: Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn: Longitude: Arctic and Antarctic Circles
Answer: Longitude (not a parallel of latitude)

Question 10. Kenya: Saudi Arabia: Sumatra: Colombia
Answer: Saudi Arabia (the equator does not pass through this country)

Question 11. Football: Playground: Globe: Earth
Answer: Playground (not spherical in shape)

Question 12. London: Greenwich: Royal Observatory: Nile
Answer: Nile (not related to the Prime Meridian)

Question 13. Mao is a small model of the Earth.
Answer: Globe

Question 14. Indians were the first to make accurate maps.
Answer: Europeans

Question 15. The plane containing the Equator is known as the orbital plane.
Answer: Equatorial plane

Question 16. The Tropic of cancer is the great circle.
Answer: Equator

Question 17. I am an imaginary line running from the North Pole to the South Pole through the centre of the Earth. Who am I?
Answer: Axis

Question 18. I am the longest circular line running along the surface of the Earth, around its centre, from east to west. Who am I?
Answer: Equator

Question 19. I am a country in the Earth’s eastern hemisphere; my capital is New Delhi. Who am I?
Answer: India

Question 20. am a country and am also called ‘the coffee cup of the world’. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through me. Who am I?
Answer: Brazil

Question 21. When people of the eastern hemisphere cross me, they go one day behind in time and when people of the western hemisphere cross me, they go one day ahead in time. Who am I?
Answer: International

Question 22. I am the hemisphere-defining line that defines the boundary of the eastern and western hemispheres. Who am I?
Answer: Prime meridian

Question 23. In which hemisphere is your country situated?
Answer: Our country is situated in the northeastern hemisphere.

WBBSE Class 6 Geography Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Fill In The Blanks

Question 1. Lines of longitude intersect the lines of ___________ one after the other.
Answer: Latitudes

Question 2. Lines of latitude are full circles but lines of longitude are ___________
Answer: Half circles

Question 3. Lines of longitude extend ___________
Answer: North-South

Question 4. Lines of longitude are also called ___________
Answer: Meridians

Question 5. The 0° longitude is called the ___________
Answer: Prime Meridian

Question 6. The reference point for each longitude is the___________
Answer: Prime Meridian

Question 7. The line of longitude directly opposite the Prime Meridian is also called the ___________ east and west meridian is actually the same meridian.
Answer: International Dateline

Question 8. ___________ east and west meridian is actually the same meridian
Answer: 180°

Question 9. The Prime Meridian is imagined to run through the ___________ Observatory in London.
Answer: Royal

Real-Life Applications of Meridians in Navigation

Question 10. The total number of meridians is ___________
Answer: 360

Question 11. The other name for the 180° line of longitude is ___________
Answer: International dateline

Question 12. If you walk east or west of the Prime Meridian, the will ___________ change.
Answer: Time

Question 13. Lines of longitude help to determine the ___________ of a place.
Answer: Time

Question 14. The intersection point of a line of latitude and a line of longitude are together the ___________ of a place.
Answer: Coordinates

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Write True Or False

Question 1. When we move from one longitude to another, we can see changes in the climate.
Answer: False

Question 2. Directly opposite to the 0° longitude, is the 180° longitude.
Answer: True

Question 3. The lines of longitude are parallel to each other.
Answer: False

Question 4. Local time is decided according to the lines of latitude.
Answer: False

Question 5. The Prime Meridian is a Great Circle.
Answer: True

Question 6. The coordinates of any place are the intersection of the line of latitude and the line of longitude at that point.
Answer: True

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Crossword

Clues:_______________

Across:

1. Royal Observatory located around which imaginary line

2. Earth The central states.

Up-down:

3. Path of revolution of Earth.

4. Imaginary circle equidistant from poles.

Across: 1. Greenwich, 2. Axis Up-Down: 3. Orbit, 4. Equator

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Scrambled Words

1. LERNOPOTH
2. TORUAEQ
3. TUNGLOIDE
4. PICOCAPCORIRNTROF
5. NEPLAEQJOUARIAL
6. CIREATCLEGR
7. SERTOOBVARY

Answer:

1. NORTH POLE
2. EQUATOR
3. LONGITUDE
4. TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
5. EQUATORIAL PLANE
6. GREAT CIRCLE
7. OBSERVATORY

WBBSE Chapter 2 Where You Are Topic B Meridians Of Longitude Match The Columns

Question 1.

Answer: 1-B,2-D,3-E,4-A,5-C