Planet Earth, are we the right way up?

[Joalaneil]

Has anyone ever wondered if indeed it is we in England who are upside down and not Australia, how do we know which way up our planet is, who says it is the way it is?

We assume our planet is round, it only looks like that because the oceans fill the gaps, infact we are spiky, the world we live in is a wonderful place, and fascinating, i mean how did we get here in the first place, there must have been a time when there were no stars, and no planets, so was it the "big bang theory" or something else? the mind boggles, any ideas anyone, what are your pre-conceptions?

[bernardo]

North is at the top.

[gen2]

Who says North has to be at the top? Civilisation developed first in the Northern hemisphere and they decreed North to be at the top. I have seen a map of Australia (published in Australia) that has South at the top of the map. That is an equally valid view of their world but unfortunately out of step with everiyone else. It is therefore just a convention that puts N at the top and is is convenient for everyone to use the same convention.

[mibn2cweus]

The Earth is definitely right way up or we would all fall off.

[fo3nix]

Joalaneil:
There is no real definition of "up". so, we must set our own definiton, and as gen2 says, when people were thinking of such things as this, they lived in what we call the Northern Hemisphere. And they decided that was the top hemisphere. That's how it's been since.

How we got there: lots of theories. Big bang theory perhaps best known one. Basically, we know that the universe (well, all matter in the universe; stars, planets etc.) is expanding, and moving away from eachother. This means that if you turn time backwards, everything gets closer together. This means that at some point in time, everything was together in one point in space. And then it exploded, like a bang. Though it was hardly big in the physical sense!!

[Gnisy]

Very interesting question and I doubt there will be a right answer. Apart from humans, no other live being can and need to work a map. But in order for us to be able to navigate ourselves across the many terrains in this blue planet, we HAVE to have names for directions. North is just north, but we find it easier to associate north with up or the top possibly because everyone else thinks so. Besides, we will be a facing a polarity switch sometime soon, I heard. Happens every 10 000 years or so. Compasses will be wrong for a change. The north pole will be south and vice versa. Australia can take the top hemisphere for the next few thousand years or so.

Cheers.

[qapmoc]

If you read the ''hitch hikers guide to the galaxy'' (the film seems to be total rubbish or is it just me) you would know that the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything is...is.... 42

[wacky racer]

Actually the Earth may be upside down. The rotation of the earth and the tides caused by the moon are actually "accelerating" the moon into a higher orbit. Obviously this could not have been going on for ever and one theory is that since the moon was "captured" by the earth something must have happened to change the course of events - either a catachlysmic impact or a reversal of the earth's rotation. The latter is the most likely and would most easily result from the earth flipping on its axis.

[Tweed]

Don't believe a word of it. It was God that created the world in six days. But seriously, the big bang and other explanations are just thoeries and I don't buy the half of it.

[Joalaneil]

But if the north pole is north, and the south, south, then in Australia surely their north would be south, and their compasses somewhat different to ours [ if you understand this...you are a better man than i am....lol, figuratively speaking...that is ]

I could go asking these sort of questions all night, i am fascinated by all scientific things, like how does a tree know when to stop growng? how do we humans know when to stop growing? can you imagine us, hundreds of feet tall?

Why is our nose called a nose? who gave it that name in the first place?

I think that is enough....for now, to think about, i love this site, this is a bit like the Q & A'S page in the BBC'S Focus Magazine, printed here in Bristol, it is really good for those fascinated by all things scientific.

[bernardo]

gen2 wrote:

Who says North has to be at the top?

Me.

I have seen a map of Australia (published in Australia) that has South at the top of the map.

I have got such a map in my living room, just a few yards away. So what? This means only that the Australians are mad people who don't know how to print maps correctly. It's probably the same reason why they don't speak correctly (without an accent) like us normal people.

[mibn2cweus]

bernardo, Sorry to hear that your one of them, "normal people". I was under the impression that you were a remarkable and extraordinary individual. As a matter of fact I was considering the possibility that if you were to stand on your head the whole world would turn upside down. I feel safer now.

[Karen2005]

Hi Joalaneil

Have you read A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson? Bill presents the history of the universe, the earth and much more in layman's terms. It can still be fairly heavy-going at times, but is very interesting.

[Joalaneil]

Thanks Karen2005 for that info, sounds so good i am going to look for it on Amazon, i subscribe to BBC'S Focus magazine because there are loads of scientific features in it too, i'll let you know if i can get it.