serious question about the world

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diymirage

diymirage

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my 8 year old was playing with a globe the other day, and he brought up a good question, so here goes

when im standing, my head is up and my feet are down
but if i were to be standing in china, my head would be up and my feet down
but if i were to be standing in australia, my head would be up and my feet down

so, the world im standing on is the reference point, right?

then, how in the world do we know Antarctica is down, and the North pole is up
i mean, what is the reference point?
who is to say chile isnt way down, or england or italy ?

how do we know, which way is up, and which way is down?
 
Where ever you might stand (except in weightless space), if you hold a heavy object out at arms length (hammer, 5 lb weight, etc) and let it go............well, the direction the object falls is down??? As for North and South, scientists say that the Poles swap places every 800,000 years or so:



Pole Reversal Happens All The (Geologic) Time

???? So in 800,000 years up will be down and down will be up???? Don't ask me which direction a hammer would fall after the poles swap........sideways???

Treblig (The Science Guy)
 
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But if our galaxy is actually laying on it's side, within the universe which is tilted to the left and South............... :)
 
Up, down, left, right etc are all constructs we use based on your current position and physical orientation. Up and down are really only referring to which way gravity is pulling something towards the center of a mass. If you have two gravitational bodies close to each other, one larger and you are standing on the smaller, and we assume "down" is toward the center of the one you are standing on. Now, throw something to the other one. As the object approaches the other body and begins to feel it's gravitational effects, does up and down change form your perspective? I would say no, because "up" and "down" are not really a thing in that regard any more than "going up" means moving north on a map or globe etc.

EDIT.. If anything every point on a globe is some degree of left or right, not up and down, elevation not included.
 
I would agree that where you stand is the reference point on what the view is. I would say to the questioner, we as people decided that the magnetic poles decided top and bottom and we decided north would be up top and south down at the bottom. But you could just as easily see it in the opposite manor. It wouldn’t be wrong, but just a point of view. The only problem being that it would be backwards to everyone else’s.

Ahhhhh, young minds!
 
As long as your 6 year old doesn't ask you this question, you'll be OK, " If you're traveling very close to the speed of light and you shine a flashlight forward (in the direction you're traveling) will the light even leave the flashlight since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light???"

Treblig (The Science Guy)
 
Which way does a compass needle point if a person in Australia is holding it in their hand?
If it is pointing away from the holder most people would consider that "UP".
While a needle pointing toward the holder would be considered "Down".
Maybe that is where the concept came from.
Or perhaps it is simply because the people who were more advanced came from the northern hemisphere and that is the way they called it.
I suspect the two are linked.
 
adriver said:
Which way does a compass needle point if a person in Australia is holding it in their hand?
If it is pointing away from the holder most people would consider that "UP".
While a needle pointing toward the holder would be considered "Down".
Maybe that is where the concept came from.
Or perhaps it is simply because the people who were more advanced came from the northern hemisphere and that is the way they called it.
Click to expand...

I agree that's what people associate with UP/Down since they equate it to map directions etc but North is not the same as Up any more than Left is the same as West. if you are on an large object that doesn't have an iron core, the compass is useless and won't settle on any particular direction.
 
I've always wondered why it is that when you look in a mirror and you move your left hand it's your right hand that moves in the mirror. When you lift your right arm the left arm (in the mirror) is the one that moves. OK, Ok...it's a reflection so everything is reversed right??? Why then when you move your head your feet don't move in the mirror?? I mean if your left and right sides are reversed in the mirror why isn't up and down (or top and bottom) reversed as well. Even if you lay down facing the mirror the left and right hands (which are now on the top and bottom of your body) are still reversed??? I think we should sue the inventor of the mirror because it's defective............it only reverses left to right but not top and bottom.
Maybe if you turn the mirror sideways??????????????????????????????

Treblig (The Science Guy)
 
North and South are not the same as Up and Down.
 
Treblig said:
I've always wondered why it is that when you look in a mirror and you move your left hand it's your right hand that moves in the mirror. When you lift your right arm the left arm (in the mirror) is the one that moves. OK, Ok...it's a reflection so everything is reversed right??? Why then when you move your head your feet don't move in the mirror?? I mean if your left and right sides are reversed in the mirror why isn't up and down (or top and bottom) reversed as well. Even if you lay down facing the mirror the left and right hands (which are now on the top and bottom of your body) are still reversed??? I think we should sue the inventor of the mirror because it's defective............it only reverses left to right but not top and bottom.
Maybe if you turn the mirror sideways??????????????????????????????

Treblig (The Science Guy)
Click to expand...

Sometimes I feel....



Ok, I'm all better now.:)

 
Cuda416 said:
I agree that's what people associate with UP/Down since they equate it to map directions etc but North is not the same as Up any more than Left is the same as West. if you are on an large object that doesn't have an iron core, the compass is useless and won't settle on any particular direction.
Click to expand...

Top of the compass?
Bottom of the compass?
Does that not work?
I think the OP is considering the origin of common terminology and the reason for that, not scientific accuracy.
Other than what the God of The Internet might say, that's the best I can do.
 
Up, down, north, south, east and west only apply when your point of view is from being on or near a surface or constant in the first place. (something measurable and constant)
Once off a planet or other such body they have zero meaning.
Also, north and south poles have nothing to do with up or down physically, as with any and every point on a body with gravity 180 degrees from the gravitational source is up, so "up" is different for everyone on the round earth.
If the earth was flat, then up would be the same for everyone on it.

Consider this.
Planet earth is the only place that time has relationship to anything because we count time in ways that are determined by the sun and stars relationship to this specific planet.
Same with religion in my own opinion, because anywhere else you go besides here the word/name God may have no meaning at all.
And IF religion does exist outside the human race you can be sure it would be WAY different than our religions here. (look how different they are even on this one little ball)
You could also be sure we (humans) would say they were wrong in who, what or how they worshiped and want to go to war about it.:D
 
TrailBeast said:
Up, down, north, south, east and west only apply when your point of view is from being on a surface in the first place.
Once off a planet or other such body they have zero meaning.
Also, north and south poles have nothing to do with up or down physically, as with any and every point on a body with gravity 180 degrees from the gravitational source is up, so "up" is different for everyone on the round earth.
If the earth was flat, then up would be the same for everyone on it.

Consider this.
Planet earth is the only place that time has relationship to anything because we count time in ways that are determined by the sun and stars relationship to this specific planet.
Same with religion in my own opinion, because anywhere else you go besides here the word/name God may have no meaning at all.
And IF religion does exist outside the human race you can be sure it would be WAY different than our religions here. (look how different they are even on this one little ball)
You could also be sure we (humans) would say they were wrong in who, what or how they worshiped and want to go to war about it.:D
Click to expand...


Didn't you know, the earth IS flat.... so the flat earthers tell us anyway... :)
 
Cuda416 said:
Didn't you know, the earth IS flat.... so the flat earthers tell us anyway... :)
Click to expand...

I can even help them enforce that belief by saying the reason it looks round out on the surface of the ocean or from in the air is that the oxygen curves the light waves making the earth appear round.
So far as I know none of them have even been smart enough to use that as an excuse for their belief.:D

IMO one has to be pretty darn stupid to believe the earth is flat.
I mean come on, all the other planets are round so they think they are all flat and just always keep their flat side facing us? :D

Or are those others round and just the earth is flat???

I really would like to have that discussion with a true flat earther.:realcrazy:
 
TrailBeast said:
I really would like to have that discussion with a true flat earther.:realcrazy:
Click to expand...

Oh heck yeah that would be fun. My son has a friend who thinks the moon landing was faked. One of his pieces of evidence is the flag "blowing in the wind"... SMH... I asked him to explain how the mirrors we use to track the position and distance got there... blank stare....
 
TrailBeast said:
I can even help them enforce that belief by saying the reason it looks round out on the surface of the ocean or from in the air is that the oxygen curves the light waves making the earth appear round.
So far as I know none of them have even been smart enough to use that as an excuse for their belief.:D

IMO one has to be pretty darn stupid to believe the earth is flat.
I mean come on, all the other planets are round so they think they are all flat and just always keep their flat side facing us? :D

Or are those others round and just the earth is flat???

I really would like to have that discussion with a true flat earther.:realcrazy:
Click to expand...
Every map of the earth I've ever seen was flat!!

upload_2018-9-18_13-24-16.jpeg



Yes, this one is curved on the sides but the top and bottom are flat????
shopping?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBJ9xPw1rHpYHMow3t0TkUXfxMbmBd4QyIVv6XNkVqrRzb2epNJsK9Vq4w-Ys&usqp=CAE.jpg
 
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