SCIENCE (GCS)

• Geographic Coordinate System (GCS) - used to define locations on a model of the surface of the earth
• Coordinates/Geographic Coordinates - allow us to pinpoint exactly where a point or shape is on a graph or map. Written in brackets separated by a comma. They are in 'ordered pair' of numbers which means the order in which they are written is important
• North and South - the first number shows us the degree of latitude
• East and West - the second number shows us the degree of longitude
• Latitude and Longitude - angles measured from the Earth's center to a point on the Earth's surface. The angles often measured in degrees
• Latitude - lines run in east-west direction across Earth. Run horizontally around the globe. Designated as 0⁰ and divides the globe into northern and southern hemispheres
• Lines of equal/constant latitude - called parallels of latitude (horizontal lines). Parallel lines that are at an equal distance. On globes they are circles of different radii.
• Equator - is the longest circle with zero latitude (24, 901. 55)
• Great Circle - another name for the Equator
• Small Circle - name for the other lines of latitudes
• Poles - where the circle shrink to a point
• Circle of Equator - divided into 360 degrees (⁰)
• Tropic of Cancer - 23.5⁰N of Equator and runs through Mexico, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and Southern China
• Tropic of Capricorn - 23.5⁰S of Equator and runs through Chile, Southern Brazil, South Africa and Australia
• Arctic Circle - 66⁰ 33' 39" N
• Antarctic Circle - 66⁰ 33' 39" S
• Great Circle - any circular line which runs around the Earth at it's flattest point. The largest possible circle that can be drawn around a sphere
• Longitude - lines run in North-South across the Earth
• Prime Meridian - 0⁰ longitude, line drawn from north to south pole
• Magnetic North Pole - region at each end of a magnet where the external magnetic field is strongest. A bar magnet suspended in Earth's magnetic field orients itself in a north-south direction.
• Magnetic South Pole - magnetic but this is very weak and hard to identify even if you are near it, as a result magnetic compasses rarely point to it
• Time Zone - a region where the same standard time is used
• Geomagnetic Pole / Magnetic Poles - North and South Poles