5 ms·

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.
      - defrost 3y ago
        > But it doesn't stop being North, which is a fairly well defined concept. Can you cite the definition please? My understanding, from 40 years of geodesy and cartography, was that it was a fairly recent (post 16th Century) convention and many many significant older maps orientate in quite different ways. eg: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/maps-cartographycolonialismnortheurocentricglobe.html http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/maps-cartograph...
        throwaway290 3y ago
        per Wikipedia "By convention, the top or upward-facing side of a map is north", so I guess I was wrong.
        midoridensha 3y ago
        Huh? This doesn't make sense. Lots of modern maps even have north pointing somewhere other than up, though they use a marker to indicate which way is north. It doesn't matter which way you point a piece of paper: the North Pole is always going to be the North Pole, and the South Pole is always going to be in Antarctica (until the continent drifts, though the pole will still be there). The names of these poles may have been originally chosen centuries ago because popular maps pointed that way, but now those names are fixed by definition.
- secretsatan 3y ago
  I think it's pretty much a myth that a projection was chosen to accentuate certain countries, the simpler and less nefarious reason is that they're easier to use for navigation.
footlose_3815 3y ago
Now you know where all the redditors moved to

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.
    - defrost 3y ago
      > But it doesn't stop being North, which is a fairly well defined concept. Can you cite the definition please? My understanding, from 40 years of geodesy and cartography, was that it was a fairly recent (post 16th Century) convention and many many significant older maps orientate in quite different ways. eg: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/maps-cartographycolonialismnortheurocentricglobe.html http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/maps-cartograph...
      - throwaway290 3y ago
        per Wikipedia "By convention, the top or upward-facing side of a map is north", so I guess I was wrong.
        midoridensha 3y ago
        Huh? This doesn't make sense. Lots of modern maps even have north pointing somewhere other than up, though they use a marker to indicate which way is north. It doesn't matter which way you point a piece of paper: the North Pole is always going to be the North Pole, and the South Pole is always going to be in Antarctica (until the continent drifts, though the pole will still be there). The names of these poles may have been originally chosen centuries ago because popular maps pointed that way, but now those names are fixed by definition.
secretsatan 3y ago
I think it's pretty much a myth that a projection was chosen to accentuate certain countries, the simpler and less nefarious reason is that they're easier to use for navigation.

footlose_3815 3y ago

Now you know where all the redditors moved to