and one more question,explain why and how do tectonic plates move
2007-06-01 02:30:31 · 4 answers · asked by randomkid 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
The International Date Line is supposed to be exactly opposite the Prime Meridian. The problem is that there are a lot of itty bitty islands out there, and you don't want to draw the line through some island and divide a community. How would you arrange a lunch date or a business meeting if it's Tuesday at your house but Wednesday on the other side of town.
Worse, some of these islands are part of nation groups, so you can't even draw the line through water if part of the nation is on an island on one side and part is on the other side.
Tectonic plates float on the liquid mantle underneath. The mantle is sort of like our atmosphere, with masses low down getting warm and rising, and then cooling off and descending. This creates motion at the top level as masses move away from plumes and move toward sinks. The stuff on top of these masses of molten rock are carried along.
2007-06-01 02:36:51 · answer #1 · answered by TychaBrahe 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
As already stated, island groups divided by the international dateline would suffer confusion. Sovereign governments have the right to adopt or reject international convention. In like manner, time zones in the US are not straight lines to avoid confusion in cities, etc. The cause for tectonic plates to move is not well established. The leading theory seems to be that the crust of the earth moves due to deep thermal currents, kind of like boiling tomato soup with a skim on top. Wegner, one of the first to propose plate movements, suggested that it was caused by the tidal forces of the moon. But he had no proof of his concept. As far as I know no one has proved that the moon is not involved since it does cause a crustal tide as well as an ocean tide.
2007-06-01 10:05:35 · answer #2 · answered by Kes 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well its not straight because there are lots of little island there so they dont want one side of the town to be monday and the other tuesday. Look at the answer above to find out how tectonic plates move
2007-06-01 09:42:02 · answer #3 · answered by the jack hammer 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Both above answers are quite good.
Keeping track of time (e.g., Daylight Savings Time) is all economically driven anyway. There's no cosmic or universal standard.
2007-06-01 10:04:34 · answer #4 · answered by not gh3y 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋