Bobby Weinhold, age 8, of Lancaster, Penna.,

How many miles is it around the earth?

The earth is round like a ball, but not perfectly round. A tape line around the up and down direction, through the poles, is slightly shorter than a tape line around the waist, which is the equator. The old earth seems to have a slight bulge at the waistline.

Around the equator, the earth measures 24,902 miles. Around through the poles, the earth measures 24,860 miles. This means that the earth bulges 42 miles at the waistline. That is quite a distance for a normal waistline to bulge. But the earth is so big that it scarcely makes any difference at all. An extra 42 miles is not much in a measurement of over 24,000 miles.

Your globe does not show the bulge at the earths equator for a very good reason. In proper proportion, the difference would be less than one tenth of an inch. So, when you blow it up, puff and puff until your beautiful present is round as a ball. That way it will be just as perfect a copy of our earth as you could want.