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Encyclopedia Britannica

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 267 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LAP-LEO

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad) , a word meaning breadth or width, hence, figuratively, freedom from restriction, but more generally used in the geographical and astronomical sense here treated. The

latitude

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

of a point on the earth's surface is its angular distance from the

equator

EQUATOR (
Late
- LATE
Lat. aequator, from aequare, to make equal)

, measured on the curved surface of the earth. The direct measure of this distance being impracticable, it has to be determined by astronomical observations. As thus determined it is the angle between the direction of the plumb-line at the place and the plane of the

equator

EQUATOR (
Late
- LATE
Lat. aequator, from aequare, to make equal)

. This is identical with the angle between the

horizontal

HORIZONTAL

planes at the place and at the equator, and also with the

elevation

ELEVATION

of the

celestial

CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

pole above the horizon (see ASTRONOMY).

Latitude

LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

thus determined by the plumb-line is termed astronomical. The geocentric latitude of a place is the angle which the line from the earth's centre to the place makes with the plane of the equator. Geographical latitude, which is used in mapping, is based on the supposition that the earth is an elliptic spheroidthe plumb-line.
The latitude of a

celestial

CELESTIAL, OR STELLAR

object is the angle which the line

drawn

DRAWN

from some fixed point of reference to the object makes with the plane of the ecliptic.
Variability of Terrestrial Latitudes.The latitude of a point on the earth's surface, as above defined, is measured from the equator. The latter is defined by the condition that its plane makes a right angle with the earth's

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

of rotation. It follows that if the points in which this

axis

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

intersects the earth's surface, i.e. the poles of the earth,

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. 冠 urmu', to bend)

their positions on the earth's surface, the position of the equator will also

change

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. 冠 urmu', to bend)

, and there-fore the latitudes of places will change also. About the end of the 19th century research showed that there actually was a very minute but measurable periodic change of this kind. The north and south poles, instead of being fixed points on the earth's surface, wander round within a circle about 50 ft. in

diameter

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, 湲rpov, measure)

. The result is a variability of terrestrial latitudes generally.
To show the cause of this motion, let BQ represent a section of an oblate spheroid through its shortest axis, PP. We may consider this spheroid to be that of the earth, the ellipticity being greatly exaggerated. If set in rotation around its axis of figure PP, it will continue to rotate around that axis for an indefinite time. But if, instead of rotating around PP, it rotates around some other axis, RR, making a small angle,

End of Article: LATITUDE (Lat. latitudo, latus, broad)

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