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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi

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To: Gauguin who wrote (40038)	10/19/1999 5:11:00 PM
From: Jacques Chitte	Read Replies (2) of 71178

"What is the correct term for a "flat" area of a sphere?" Whazzis, a koan? :-) On an imperfect sphere, any flat area would be a "dimple". That's what you get for free. Planets are made interesting by 1) rotation and 2)gravitation. (and 3) tides.) A planet with no rotation and no satellites, waydafugout from its star, would approach perfect sphericity if the surface weren't hard and tectonically active. Stuff would flow and flatten. Featureless round cueball of a world. Add spin and you get a spheroid - a prolate spheroid. (Flattened at the poles, like a loaf of round bread) Add a satellite and you get a tendency to go to an oblate spheroid. (long on axis, like a goose egg) The grav/spin/tide corrected "equipotential surface" (on which some spilled alcohol would show no tendency at all to run in any direction except "out") of good ol Earth is called a geoid. It isn't a true sphere. If I recall it has a triangular component from combined tidal beats of sun and moon. Funk-ola.

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