3 ms·
> Actually, the Yellowstone hot spot is stationary. It's the North American continental plate that is moving westward over the hot spot. Actually, the north am
by knodi123 11y ago
> Actually, the Yellowstone hot spot is stationary. It's the North American continental plate that is moving westward over the hot spot.
Actually, the north american plate is stationary. It's the stuff underneath that is rotating eastward. Now, show me how to tell the difference between those scenarios. :-P
- tonyarkles 11y agoObserve from above? Geosynchronous satellites? If you want to do it from the surface, sunrise and sunset times? That will tell you whether or not your position has shifted relative to the Earth's rotation.
- knodi123 11y agoAh, but that just raises more issues. Geosynchronous satellites are by definition pegged to a relative spot over the earth's surface. And the earth spins constantly, inside and out. The question is, is there any difference between the core spinning slightly slower, vs. the crust spinning slightly faster (assuming zero acceleration)? To a godlike observer outside of the plane of the ecliptic, I'm not sure the idea of one being stationary and the other "slipping" in some direction even has meaning.