Michael Matthes, age 13, of Ch cago for is question:

What is a Great Circle route?

When you go around the equator, you seem to be going in a straight line. Actually, your path is a Great Circle around the curved surface of the earth, Each pair of longitude lines also forms a Great Circle and the center of . :every Great Circle on the face of the earth i s the same as the central point at the heart of the round globe,

Great Circles are used to plot long distance plane routes. On a flat maps a Great Circle route is curved and looks longer than a straight line between two points. But actually, it is the shortest route, because it follows the curved surface of the round globe.