Why is Earth considered round despite its bumpy surface?

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Earth is considered round primarily due to its overall shape being close to a sphere, despite its surface irregularities like mountains and valleys. The equatorial bulge caused by Earth's rotation results in a radius that is about 13 miles greater at the equator than at the poles, yet this difference is minimal compared to the planet's overall size. While scientists acknowledge that Earth is not a perfect sphere, they often use the term "round" as a simplification for general understanding. The roughness of Earth's surface is negligible when scaled down to the size of a billiard ball, making it appear spherical in practical terms. Thus, Earth is deemed round for most practical purposes, even though it is not perfectly spherical.
  • #31
Baluncore said:
There are 2D figures and coins that are not round, but that have a constant diameter and can roll between two lines with fixed separation. In polar coordinates, the radius would be a constant term + odd harmonics.

Is there a 3D version of that? A non-spherical solid with constant diameter that fits neatly between two planes with fixed separation.
This?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecahedron
 
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  • #32
Baluncore said:
The Earth has a very thin and fragile crust on a fluid mantle and a solid core. The crust floats on the surface and cannot handle tension. If you tried to roll the Earth on a flat surface it would immediately collapse, (like a fried egg), into a glob of red hot stainless steel, in the middle of a puddle of lava.
The outer core is liquid. The mantle is solid that “flows” on geologic time scales. The mantle also makes up the vast majority of the earth’s volume. This is verified readily by seismometry: the S waves radiated from earthquakes do not propagate through liquid, which would have easily observable effects of the mantle were liquid.
 

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