why do continents drift?

Answer 1

because the earth and the world is on a lot of different plates..when these plates move...the earth moves with them...

Answer 2

From Wikipedia:

The outermost part of the Earth's interior is made up of two layers: above is the lithosphere, comprising the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle. Below the lithosphere lies the asthenosphere, which is a more viscous zone of the mantle. Although solid, the asthenosphere has very low shear strength and can flow like a liquid on geological time scales. The deeper mantle below the asthenosphere is more rigid again.

The lithosphere essentially floats on the asthenosphere. The lithosphere has broken up into what are called tectonic plates—in the case of Earth, there are ten major and many minor plates. These plates move in relation to one another at one of three types of plate boundaries: convergent, divergent, and transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along plate boundaries. The lateral movement of the plates is typically at speeds of several centimetres per year.

Answer 3

continents "shift" because beneath the earths crust there are techtonic plates. every piece of land sits on one of the 7 plates. all of them shift due to millions of earthquakes over thousands of years.when two of these plates crash into each other, you get mountain ranges. the spot where 2 plates meet is called a fault line. the worlds largest fault line rests in San Andreas

Answer 4

Convection in the mantle.

It's kinda like if you have cold soup that formed a "crust" on it, and then put it on the stove. As it heats up on the bottom you get the soup starting to move around and then the material on the top starts to move around just like continental plates.

Answer 5

Look up "plate tectonics"

Answer 6

because i told them to.