Q 01/05

The Equator divides Earth into which two hemispheres?

A) Land and Water

B) Eastern and Western

C) Tropical and Polar

D) Northern and Southern

Answer · why

D) Northern and Southern

It sits at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the poles.

Q 02/05

What is the latitude of the Equator?

A) 0 degrees

B) 45 degrees

C) 23.5 degrees

D) 90 degrees

Answer · why

A) 0 degrees

By definition it is zero degrees of arc; the Tropics sit at about 23.5 degrees.

Q 03/05

Roughly how long is the Equator?

A) About 30,000 km

B) About 20,000 km

C) About 40,075 km

D) About 60,000 km

Answer · why

C) About 40,075 km

That is about 24,900 miles, or 21,639 nautical miles.

Q 04/05

The word "equator" comes from a medieval Latin phrase meaning what?

A) Circle equalizing day and night

B) Girdle of the world

C) Belt of the burning sun

D) Line of the middle earth

Answer · why

A) Circle equalizing day and night

Circulus aequator diei et noctis, from aequare, to make equal.

Q 05/05

The Equator is one of five notable lines of latitude. What are the other four?

A) The Prime Meridian and its antimeridian

B) The Arctic Circle and three tropics

C) The two polar circles and the two tropics

D) The four principal meridians

Answer · why

C) The two polar circles and the two tropics

Only the Equator among them is a great circle whose plane passes through Earth's centre.