Steve Hanson age 8, of Spokane, WA

What is the worlds axis?

Stick a long, thin needle through the middle of a small rubber ball. Leave enough to get a grip at one end and set the ball spinning while you hold onto the needle,, That is how the big, round earth spins around on its axis.

Of course the earths axis is not a long, thin needle. In fact: it is not anything solid at all. The whole earth spins around and around itself, The axis is the center around which it spins, It reaches from pole to pole right through the very center of the big ball.

If you sliced the earth in half at the equator., you would see that some places have further to spin than others. The big, bulging equator has the furthest to spin around. Places nearer and nearer the center have less distance to go as the earth turns around. A spot near the center turns on a dime or less. The axis would be right in the middle of this little circle.