A planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, James Tuttle Keane, said most planets and moons are not spherical or perfectly spherical. Because the earth rotates, the planet inhabited by humans also experiences centrifugal force so that it changes its shape slightly.
If you measure the highest peak on earth through the earth’s core, then the highest mountain in the world is not Everest but Ecuador’s Chimborazo. This is because the earth is depressed at the two poles so that it does not form a perfect sphere.
“Most planets and moons aren’t shaped like perfect spheres, they’re usually squashed in some way or another,” Keane told Live ScienceMonday (4/4/2022).
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a planet rotating is subjected to centrifugal force. “It’s like you’re on a merry-go-round, there’s a little extra force working so you feel like you’re being pulled aside and about to be thrown off,” says Keane.
As the planets and moons rotate, the centrifugal force causes them to bulge at their equator. The effect can be very subtle, but great examples are Jupiter and Saturn.
“If you look at the global picture of any of the gas giants, you’ll see that they’re slightly pinched and the center is protruding. The pinched shapes of these planets are more noticeable because they’re the fastest rotating planets in the solar system,” Keane said.
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The faster something spins, the more centrifugal force acts on it. An extreme example of the centrifugal force acting on an object is planet dwarf Haumea.
“The dwarf planet is in the Kuiper Belt, a region of ice objects outside Neptune’s orbit. Haumea is the size of Pluto, but rotates so fast (one full rotation every four hours) that it’s almost egg -shaped,” Keane said.
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