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Or will your compass still keep leading you east for ever.

2007-01-07 11:09:41 · 9 answers · asked by Hi T 7 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

9 answers

If you travel towards the east, you will stay on the same latitude circle. Your compass will show east all the time. You will circle around the pole and go through your departure point after a (long) while.
If you do that at the equator, you will have covered a great circle (one that has a circumference of 40,000 km).
If you do this at any other latitude (North or South), the circumference of the circle you trace will be 40000*Cos(LAT) km.

At latitude 90 (at the pole) you may have a strange case. There is no real East. However, navigators have assigned names to directions away from the pole, in order to avoid confusion. We all know that any direction from the North pole is really "south", however, navigators have named directions according to the longitude that you use to leave the pole. I do not know how far from the pole this convention applies, but it is at least one degree (60 nautical miles) from the pole.

If it is, then starting at the North pole, you can pick this artificially called "East" direction and travel south until you reach the latitude of 89 N, then turn 90 degrees to the left and follow the line of latitude 89 all around the pole. Since you are traving a circle of radius 111 km, you will travel a little under 700 km at latitude 89 N before arriving at the point where you turned from "East" to East.

East this what you were looking for?

2007-01-07 11:34:47 · answer #1 · answered by Raymond 7 · 0 0

East is east is east is east. It's not a place but an alignment of a magnetic field. So no matter how far you go the compass will still point the same way. There are however some local variations due to earth density and other issues, but these are small.

2007-01-07 11:14:43 · answer #2 · answered by JimGeek 4 · 2 0

East is a direction, not a destination.

A compass does not point true north, and thus it will also not point true east. If you follow the compass, you will not be traveling east.

Assuming you follow an easterly direction, you will find the compass pointing east all the time. If you follow the compass in stead of true east, you will end up on the magnetic pole.

2007-01-07 12:09:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

East is a direction, not a location. You'll never reach it.

2007-01-07 11:14:30 · answer #4 · answered by MateoFalcone 4 · 2 0

The first step East leads West. Think about it.

2007-01-07 21:41:12 · answer #5 · answered by los 7 · 0 0

east is not a location

2007-01-07 11:33:46 · answer #6 · answered by futureastronaut1 3 · 0 0

no you ll keep going east ,but you will come from the west

2007-01-11 10:34:47 · answer #7 · answered by NIGEL R 7 · 0 0

No and it will never become west. even though you will eventually end up there.

2007-01-08 04:39:52 · answer #8 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0 0

NO and YES,by the way how high is up?

2007-01-07 11:14:03 · answer #9 · answered by B P 2 · 0 0

forever

2007-01-08 07:55:07 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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