Globes
For me, Globes are the most fascinating geographic tools we have. The way I
look at it when I was young were you turn it around and it spins wildly. I
used to love that as a kid. The definition of a globe
is a three-dimensional scale model of a spherical body like a planet, star
or even a moon.They can also be representations of the sky and stars. The
word globe comes from the Latin word globus meaning round or spherical.
The earliest known globe was constructed by the scholar Crates Mallus
in Turkey around 150 BC. An ancient celestial globe that still exists was
made about 150 AD as part of a sculpture, called the farnes atlas in the
Naples Museum in Italy.
A globe is usually mounted at an angle on bearings. In addition to making it
easy to use this mounting also represents the angle of the planet in
relation to its sun and the spin of the planet. The
first world globe was constructed by the Muslims during the middle ages.
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There are many different kinds of globes available in the market today. It usually depends on the size or the type of globe you want. There are different kinds of globes like: world globes, globe sculptures, garden globes, display globes, day-night globes, illuminated globes, spinning globes, rotating globes and floating globes. World globes depict many things about the earth. Most world globes have all the countries listed on them, along with their capital cities and other major cities. Oceans, mountain ranges, deserts and forests can seem so real when seen on a globe. The main aspects in a world globe are the equator, the prime meridian, the latitudes, and the longitudes. These lines can determine the exact location of a place on the earth. Time can also be calculated by checking the meridians.
Globes make very good tools for studying geography in an interesting way, or they may be just a decoration for your desk, table or house. Today, there have been many changes to the classic globe. Designs are often being incorporated to make them more unique. Some globes have gold, silver and sometimes even gemstones. Besides these, I am sure that a lot of people have made their own design changes. But even if they make tons of variations of the world globe, let’s not forget that the main purpose of the globe is to allow people to learn more about geography and its implications to their own location in the world. |
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