_Caroline._ I thought I had understood the centrifugal force perfectly, but I do not comprehend its effects in this instance.
_Mrs. B._ You know that the revolution of the earth on its axis, must give to every particle a tendency to fly off from the centre, that this tendency is stronger, or weaker, in proportion to the velocity with which the particle moves; now a particle situated near to one of the poles, makes one rotation in the same space of time as a particle at the equator; the latter, therefore, having a much larger circle to describe, travels proportionally faster, consequently the centrifugal force is much stronger at the equator than in the polar regions: it gradually decreases as you leave the equator and approach the poles, at which points the centrifugal force, entirely ceases. Supposing, therefore, the earth to have been originally in a fluid state, the particles in the torrid zone would recede much farther from the centre than those in the frigid zones; thus the polar regions would become flattened, and those about the equator elevated.
As a large portion of the earth is covered with water, the Creator gave to it the form, denominated an _oblate spheroid_, otherwise the polar regions would have been without water, and those about the equator, would have been buried several miles below the surface of the ocean.
_Caroline._ I did not consider that the particles in the neighbourhood of the equator, move with greater velocity than those about the poles; this was the reason I could not understand you.
_Mrs. B._ You must be careful to remember, that those parts of a body which are farthest from the centre of motion, must move with the greatest velocity: the axis of the earth is the centre of its diurnal motion, and the equatorial regions the parts most distant from the axis.
_Caroline._ My head then moves faster than my feet; and upon the summit of a mountain, we are carried round quicker than in a valley?
_Mrs. B._ Certainly; your head is more distant from the centre of motion than your feet; the mountain-top than the valley; and the more distant any part of a body is from the centre of motion, the larger is the circle it will describe, and the greater therefore must be its velocity.