5 ms·

More land mass in the northern hemisphere

• yumraj 3y ago
  Actually that brings up a question, why is landmass on Earth so unevenly distributed between northern and southern hemispheres?
  • ruined 3y ago
    the short answer is mantle convection. the slightly longer answer is it's constantly changing and we just happen to be alive now when it's this way
  • defrost 3y ago
    Continental Drip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drip https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_drip
    • bibanez 3y ago
      This definitely doesn't contain the answer but is hilarous
      • defrost 3y ago
        If you want a more serious answer, tectonic plates are the floating cooled solidified 'slag' on a spinning spherical molten furnace (that's been cooling for 4 billion years). Distance from spin axis (equator Vs poles) plays more of a dynamic than "South" vs "North" (air quoted as that's merely a convention as to which hemisphere is the 'top' hemisphere). Two major points are that: * N vs S looks a bit different on a globe or non Mercator projection (chosen by European traders to maximise the parts of the world of interest to them). * current positions are just that - they've steadily moved since formation of the planet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGdPqpzYD4o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGdPqpzYD4o
        • bibanez 3y ago
          Why is it thar more landmass gets spun into the axis in the NH than in the SH? They should be the same distance from the axis, right?
          • defrost 3y ago
            The land masses are floating plates pushing and shoving against each other over a bubling mass of heat energy pushing up to escape outwards, there are more forces at play than simple centrifuging. The linked animation shows a relatively short sequence of movement, over the last few million years, that is likely the most we'll be able to reconstruct thanks to the arrow of time.
        • midoridensha 3y ago
          North and South should not be in air-quotes. They're correct, by definition. "Top" and "bottom", however, can be air-quoted. There's nothing that says north equals "top"; north and south are arbitrary, and are just terms chosen to designate the two poles. The only reason people think north=top is because most maps are oriented that way.
          • defrost 3y ago
            North and South are arbitrary and subject to change though; at least 183 reversals over the last 83 million years [-1]. Unless you mean spin direction about axis, and even so a spinning top can also flip. [-1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
            • throwaway290 3y ago
              If you flip North can change from "top" to "bottom" or from "bottom" to "top" depending on your map. But it doesn't stop being North, which is a fairly well defined concept. Hence no air quotes.
              • 3y ago
      • footlose_3815 3y ago
        Now you know where all the redditors moved to
  • namaria 3y ago
    *at the moment You're looking at a snapshot of a process that goes on for billions of years... there's no particular reason why any snapshot would look like any sort of way.
  • tzs 3y ago
    BTW, looking at northern hemisphere vs southern hemisphere doesn't show just how unevenly it is distributed. To really see how unevenly land is distributed go to Google Maps (or any other online map that switches to a 3D globe view when you zoom out and search for Bora Bora in French Polynesia. Then zoom out to the globe view. Then tweak the position to get North America to just disappear over the horizon, along with most of South America. With sufficient tweaking you can get it down to the half of the Earth you are looking at just being ocean, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tasmania, about 2/3 of Antartica, and parts of Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, and Philippines, plus a handful of islands.
• cassianoleal 3y ago
  I imagine both actual population and population density have something to do with it as well. The difference is massive, which probably also means a lot more green areas and a lot less concrete and metal in proportion. a. Northern Hemisphere: The half that lies north of the Equator. This hemisphere contains approximately 68% of Earth's landmass and is home to about 90% of the global population. It includes North America, Europe, Asia, and most of Africa. b. Southern Hemisphere: The half that lies south of the Equator. It contains only 32% of Earth's landmass and is home to about 10% of the global population. It includes South America, Australia, Antarctica, and the southern parts of Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispheres_of_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemispheres_of_Earth