Antarctica is on the bottom of the globe, so when the animals stand up, their feet touch the land, but their heads must be pointing downward. I know it is because of gravity but how does the gravity adjust the animals' position?
2007-02-23 12:08:34 · 9 answers · asked by Kimora Miranda 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Here's another way of looking at it.
Suppose 2 people are floating out in space where there is no gravity. And each of there heads are positioned such that they are staring at the others feet. Which one of them is upside down? It's a relative question that depends on your point of observation.
In the case of the Earth, everything on the planet is pulled toward the center of the Earth due to the simple idea that a very very large object (the Earth) will pull very hard on smaller objects (people, animals, etc.) We call this pull 'gravity.'
If a person on the exact opposite end of the Earth is standing on their head, are they upside down? Once again it depends on your point of reference.
I know this didn't exactly answer the question, but I hope it helps.
K.
2007-02-23 12:20:56 · answer #1 · answered by kevinvw2000 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's all about your point of reference. For someone on the earth, the ground is down and the sky is up. For someone observing from space, if they were oriented with their head facing up towards the north pole, someone standing in Antarctica would appear to be upside down! Likewise someone standing on the equator would appear to be completely sideways! Of course, in space, there is no up or down, so that person could just as easily have their head facing the bottom of the earth, and the person at the north pole would be upside down. The earth doesn't have a true top or bottom. It's only something that we humans have arbitrarily set. Now there's a lot of reasons why we made the decision, but the map could have just as easily been drawn the other way around. It's a difficult thing to think about. The most likely reason our maps look the way they do is because of how modern civilization developed. Europe and Asian explorers expanded outward eventually discovering southern continents and drawning the map to add them in. If Australia had discovered Europe, they would have likely drawn themselves on top. Hope that helps.
2016-05-24 04:01:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The directions of up and down change depending on where you are on the Earth.
The direction "down" always points to the centre of the Earth. So since the earth is a sphere, if you are on opposite sides of the sphere your "down" will be in opposite directions.
If you look at your globe, someone at the North Pole has their feet on the top of the globe. For someone in Florida, their down is almost at a right angle to this, but they don't fall off because gravity pulls them towards the centre of the planet.
2007-02-23 12:15:54 · answer #3 · answered by davidbgreensmith 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The only reason north is conventionally put at the top of maps is that most of the early maps were drawn by people from the northern hemisphere. The world could just as easily be represented with south at the top and north at the bottom. As far as I am concerned living in the southern hemisphere, it is the northern hemisphere people who are upside down.
2007-02-23 18:00:03 · answer #4 · answered by tentofield 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is no up or down. Gravity pulls things toward the Earth's center, not down.
2007-02-23 12:13:28 · answer #5 · answered by Huggles-the-wise 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
everything is pulled towards the center of the earth, so there is no actual bottom on the earth.
2007-02-23 12:17:36 · answer #6 · answered by ssbm93 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For the exact same reason that WE don't live side-ways !!!
2007-02-23 12:19:10 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
we're all magnetic..to keep it simple
2007-02-23 13:01:48 · answer #8 · answered by ? 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
all i have to say is hahaha
2007-02-23 12:23:08 · answer #9 · answered by cutiepiy 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋