Is the earth going to tilt over?

Question

I read somewhere that the earth could tilt over on its axis because there is too much weight in Antarctica due to the ice. Could global warming make this happen sooner, if the Arctic ice sheet melts (the weight would be distributed away from the north)?

Has it started to happen already? I read about Inuit people in Canada who are saying that the sun seems to be in the wrong place in the sky. (Though I know that the earth does wobble a bit.)

I don't mean magnetic pole reversal. I mean that the earth itself could actually tilt over.

Hello Vincent--Well, I've been to the Arctic circle in Europe and it is a fact that the circle ""moves several hundred meters from year to year, due to minor changes in the earth's rotation. I was assuming that the relative position of the sun in the sky would be more noticeable to the native people of the North than to us, due to its apparent low altitude. I have read reports of some science in relation to indications of polar shift, but I'm not a scientist which is why I asked the question on this forum.

Answer 1

The weight of ice in Antarctica?

I mean, seriously?

Ever seen a top spinning? If you add weight exactly on top of the rotation axis, to you see it change direction? No? That is what I thought (and what physics says).

To have mass move to or from a pole from or to the equator will ONLY change the speed or rotation -- not the direction. But again if you do the math, you will see that such an effect would be orders of magnitude less than that of the tides that we already experience.

The amount of energy to move a massive object such as the Earth from one direction of spin to another is just staggering. Just do some math and you will see! The inclination of Earth at 23 odd degree that give us seasons was due to an object the size of Mars hitting Earth 4 billion years ago, some of the debris merged with Earth, some clumped together and formed the Moon. Note the important point here: an object the size of a frigging planet impacting! That is what is required to shift the inclination of Earth.

As to where you might possibly have seen reports that Inuits in Canada reported the sun to be in the wrong place (for the record, this is the same sun for everyone, if they could see it in the wrong place, so could you and everyone else on the planet) perhaps you should select your source of information more carefully. It is all 100% pure bogus.

Answer 2

Yes, the axis has moved in the past, and will move in the future. It is not because the ice in Antarctica. The core of the planet is liquid, but not equally dense in all places. If it were equally dense everywhere, the axis would be stable. The fact that the density is not even, makes the planet wobble, makes the axis move ever so slightly every day. This effect is not noticeable in a human lifetime, but it is noticeable over geological time
Some of the effects you mention, I would attribute to global warming from contamination.

Answer 3

I understand that when this happens it happens very quickly - sort of the throwing stick effect. Those living in northern Canada could get tossed out into space and splattered on the moon like bugs on a windshield on a warm July evening. This may explain why we had a number of Inuit dog sledders passing through our state last February heading south. Obviously, some of the renowned Inuit scientists tipped their people off!

Answer 4

Not in the next several million years. It can't happen. The earth's tilt is stabilized by the moon. The earth does slightly wobble in its tilt but can't flip over. About the weight of the Antarctic ice. Remember, ice weighs less than water (ice floats) so think about the weight of all the oceans.

Answer 5

It's very possible that it could happen again. It has already happened in the past and the effect is, the earth tumbles on it's axis and the atmosphere is ripped away.

Answer 6

sounds very unlikely to me, dont expect it to happen, ever

Answer 7

haha SERIOUSLY :/