I have heard that at the Panama Canal, you can see the sun set in the east and see it rise in the west. How?

Question

I understand this is the only place in the world that this happens. It has something to do with the area the ships use to pass through the canal. But I don't understand how its possible.

Answer 1

You got this wrong. There are places in Panama where the sun rises over the Pacific Ocean and sets over the Atlantic Ocean. This is because the Pacific is to the east and the Atlantic is to the west.

Answer 2

Well, isn't that a cute complete misunderstanding of geography?

There is a question in the original Trivial Pursuit...if you are traveling through the Panama Canal, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, what direction are you generally traveling? Without thinking, most people would answer "east." The real answer is northwest.

Look at a map of Panama sometime. On the Pacific side of the canal, you would indeed see the sun rise over a gulf in the Pacific Ocean...while on the Atlantic side, you would see the sun set over a gulf in the Atlantic Ocean. That's where your confusion comes from.

Answer 3

The sun always rises in the East and sets in the West. The confusion comes because Panama is S-shaped and the canal actually runs from NW to SE when going from the Atlantic to the Pacific. (Look at a map of Panama.)

As the Psalmist said (Psalm 8, verses 3 - 4), the sun doesn't really care which way we build our canals.

Answer 4

It might have to do with a possible magnetic disturbance that's messing up your compass.

Seriously, that misconception might be explain by the fact that one travels from the Pacific side of the canal to the Atlantic side by actually going west (officially NNW), which is counter-intuitive to the fact that the Atlantic is on the east side of the Americas. Panama has something of a bend that makes the canal go in that direction.

This would be like traveling on a road that indicates a cardinal direction but because of curves and bends, you might be traveling in the opposite direction. One odd example is found in Virginia, where Interstate 81 and Interstate 77 run together for about 9 miles. If you're going north on I-81, you are going south on I-77, although your traveling direction is actually easterly.

Answer 5

It's an optical illusion. You think globally of the Atlantic Ocean being east of the Pacific Ocean. Due to the geography of the Canal you actually travel North and West from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The sun still works the same everywhere.

Answer 6

I've been to the Panama Canal, it's not true. I've heard this before and I don't know where it started, but trust me, the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west, no matter where you are on earth.

Answer 7

You mean, at the same time?

The sun ALWAYS sets in the west, period. Panama is twisted so the the "eastern" Atlantic entrance to the canal is actually west of the "western" Pacific entrance. This might be what they are referring to.

Answer 8

that doesn't make any sense at all. The rising and setting of the sun is caused by the earth's rotation. I don't that that the earth rotates backwards at the panama canal.

Answer 9

There are only two places on earth where the sun doesn't rise in the east and set in the west - The north pole and south pole (rotational poles).

Answer 10

It's not possible. Whoever told you this is mistaken and may be mixing it up with the fact that when you enter the Pacific Ocean you are actually further east than when you were in the Atlantic Ocean.