why is north "up" ?

[MagicalTrevor]

Hmm strange, in that animation England has always been a separate little island but I'm sure I remember reading somewhere that people used to be able to walk from England to France (a long time ago).

During the ice age as all the water was stored as snow/ice around the poles this meant the water level was a lot lower than it is today, so there was a land bridge between continental Europe and the UK. After the Ice Age there was a large amount of sediment that was deposited between the English channel which allowed this possibility as well, however as this was mainly clay and other fine sediments this eroded quickly. You see some of this ice age sediment along the east coast which is why East Anglia has a problem with coastal erosion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistoric_Britain

Read the section on the lower palaeolithic.

 

[p4radox]

Well then everyone is both north and south to you.

If you stand on the north pole you are the most northerly person, and every direction you look is south. So you can't be south to anyone, and no one can be north to you.

 

[Greenlizard0]

Some of the fail in here is hilarious.

Nice one lads keep the work up.

 

[Admiral Huddy]

If you stand on the north pole you are the most northerly person, and every direction you look is south. So you can't be south to anyone, and no one can be north to you.

Can you actually stand on a pole? Apart from the ones you see in ASDA car park!

 

[FatBoyObese]

If it were the other way round, would you have created a thread titled "why is south up?"

 

[ntg]

We have poles due to the earths magnetic field. North and South are just labels for the area where the magnetic forces meet.

what?

we have poles because of labour's horrible immigration system, innit.

is this "magnetic forces" some new political speak for illegal immigrants? what are you on about?

 

[alex_tank]

Why dont hot dogs contain dog meat?

 

[The Dread Pirate]

Why are we here?

Why do women go to the loo in groups?

How am I able to function without a brain?

Does the pope **** in the woods?

All questions like the OP's that just can't be answered.

 

[bsoltan]

 

[Andrew Moore]

Why are we taught that the flow of electricity goes from + to - when in reality its the other way around?

The answer is that this is the way it was explained and decided upon initially even if in reality it may be the complete opposite. Why re-educate when the current standard is already universally recognised.




Andy

 

[Firestar_3x]

This is all well and good but do things change if i stand on my head......

 

[The Dread Pirate]

This is all well and good but do things change if i stand on my head......

I donno maybe if you were in a plane on a treadmill...

 

[wilko49]

Similarly, the Earth's North pole is actually a magnetic South pole.

 

[alex_tank]

It's a good question actually.

Some googling and the the trend that North is 'up' was started by a clever Egyptian dude named Ptolemy who was born around 90 A.D., so there you have it.

 

[Fillado]

Similarly, the Earth's North pole is actually a magnetic South pole.

It's fine it'll flip around again soon enough

 

[Cosimo]

If you were on the North Pole you’d be saying it’s down there.

 

[Cat_In_Pyjamas]

what?

we have poles because of labour's horrible immigration system, innit.

is this "magnetic forces" some new political speak for illegal immigrants? what are you on about?

/facedesk


because facepalm wasn't enough.

 

[bloodiedathame]

/facedesk


because facepalm wasn't enough.

/facewall

 

[Priapus]

/facedesk


because facepalm wasn't enough.

I think he was joking...



well, I really hope so anyway.

With regards to the OPs quest: Because it is.

 

[Morbius]

Why are we taught that the flow of electricity goes from + to - when in reality its the other way around?

It would make more sense to call an electron positive and fix everything, but it's not a particularly easy thing to implement. Anyway, for most purposes, you can assume that the flow is from positive to negative.