Latitude, Longitude and Time Zones
Use the global grid: latitude and longitude, the Equator, the hemispheres, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and the Prime Meridian; and time zones, including why day and night differ around the world
What a learner can do afterwards
- Locate the Equator, Prime Meridian, tropics and polar circles on a globe or world map
- Find a place from its latitude and longitude, and give the rough coordinates of a place (e.g., 'London is about 51 degrees north')
- Explain why it is night in Sydney when it is morning in London, using time zones and Earth's rotation
The lesson
Every place on Earth has its own address. Instead of a street name, it uses two numbers: latitude and longitude. Together they form a grid that covers the whole globe, so you can point to any spot, from your street to a tiny island in the ocean.
Longitude lines run the other way, from the North Pole to the South Pole. They count degrees east or west of the Prime Meridian, a line at 0 degrees that passes through Greenwich, England. The Equator splits Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Prime Meridian splits it into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
London sits close to the Prime Meridian, at about 51 degrees north and 0 degrees longitude. Those two numbers are enough to find it on any map, even if you have never seen a picture of the city.
It is morning in London, so the sun has just risen there. Earth keeps spinning, and Sydney is much farther east, so its clocks are already many hours ahead of London's. That is why it can already be evening in Sydney while people in London are just getting up.
Latitude and longitude give every place its own address, and time zones explain why the sun rises at different times in different parts of the world.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.