If you had a measuring tape that started at the center of Earth and went to the highest peak in the world, you wouldn't be looking at Mount Everest. The tallest mountain in the world would be on the other side of the world.
Earth is a little squishy at the poles, like a person pressing both hands on the top and bottom of a ball. The equator juts out as a result. Earth is shaped like a slightly flattened sphere rather than a perfect sphere.
Most planets and moons are not real spheres, they are usually squishy in some way or another, according to a planetary scientist at NASA. Earth and other planets and moons are not round.
The apparent outward force experienced by an object that is spinning is called the Centrifugal force.
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A rotating planet has a force. If you spin around in a chair or on your feet, you should feel a pull away from your center. Maybe your arms or legs won't work. If you sit on a merry-go-round, there is a little bit of extra force acting on you, and so you feel tugged off to the side.
The force of spin causes planets and moons to bulge at their equators. The effect can be very subtle, but good examples are Jupiter and Saturn. If you look at a global image of either gas giant, you will notice that they are a bit small and have bulges in their middle. The shape of these planets is more noticeable because they are the fastest spinning planets in the solar system. The more force is on something, the faster it spins.
The dwarf planet Haumea is an extreme example of the force acting on a body. The dwarf planet is located in the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects outside of Neptune. It is spinning so fast that it is almost egg-shaped.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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