what shape is the earth'
exists and is an alternate of . The earth is often thought of as spherical (like a ball), but it is closer to being an oblate spheroid. An oblate spheroid is a sphere that is slightly bulged along the 'equator'. We can create a reference oblate spheroid, a theoretical closest fit to earth, and the over-all tolerance between the actual geoid, the earth itself, and the reference oblate spheroid is extremely close-- even closer than the tolerance allowable in billiard balls.