How far is it through the earth?
The earth is a great ball and a straight line through the middle from side to side is called the diameter. The earth is not a perfect ball, however. It bulges a little at the waist line and it is flattened little at the two poles. This means that the diameter at the equator is a little longer than the diameter at the poles.
At the equator, the diameter of the earth is about 7,926 miles. At the poles, the diameter is 7,900, or about 26 miles shorter. This difference is so slight that it is not shown on a model globe. In round figures, the diameter of the earth is about 8,000 miles. This is the distance from Lansing, Michigan to Egypt, the Land of the Nile,