What if...XKCD's take on rotating the Earth 90 degrees

**Alundil** · 09-10-12, 10:03 AM

Thought this was a fun example of mental rambling

Enjoy

What if the Earth's landmass were rotated by 90 degrees?

Q: What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now - only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees?

—Socke

A: It would profoundly alter our biosphere in general and public radio in particular.

Socke asks what would happen if the Earth’s surface were slid around by 90 degrees, putting our current North and South Poles on the equator. We’re not changing the tilt of the Earth’s axis; we’re just imagining that the surface were arranged differently.

....

**rush2049** · 09-10-12, 03:31 PM

Very interesting....

what country would be the axis we rotated 90 degrees on?

It would change the temperate zones thats for sure. (It would be awesome if the USA got bahamas like weather, would suck if we got antarctica like weather...)

Think of all the wars name's that would change..... (ex. Those north Berliners sure are nazi's......)

Columbus sailing around the world would have been MUCH more difficult.... infact, discovering all the continents would have taken a much longer time....

**AetheLove** · 09-10-12, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by rush2049

Very interesting....

what country would be the axis we rotated 90 degrees on?

Pretty sure the supposition was that our extant Prime Meridian would be the new Equator.

That would make the rotational axis points (0, 0) and (0, 180): a point in the Atlantic Ocean tucked under the edge of West Africa, south of Ghana and west of Gabon; and a point in the Pacific Ocean that isn't near much of anything at all.

Æ

**SmokenScion** · 09-10-12, 05:13 PM

My brain hurts. I think their map is wrong, why is America still right side up?

**Alundil** · 09-10-12, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

My brain hurts. I think their map is wrong, why is America still right side up?

Because.....murika?

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.

**SmokenScion** · 09-10-12, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Alundil

Because.....murika?

Sent via highly charged bolt of electricity.

I knew it, those damn liberals screwing with Hypothetical world on its side!

**AetheLove** · 09-10-12, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by SmokenScion

My brain hurts. I think their map is wrong, why is America still right side up?

Because planer projections of spherical surfaces are necessarily wrong?

What we're used to seeing as "the earth" is wrong. It's distorted. There are a variety of distortions used, each one more or less suited to any particular task - but none of them with true fidelity to the actual Earth, which is (approximately) a sphere.

He says he used an equirectangular projection. I can't vouch for his accuracy (it's a cartoon), but if he did it correctly it'd look wrong to us.

Cheers,

AetheLove