IF north pole becomes the south pole....

[@PK nd]

what would happen if north pole of Earth becomes south pole and south becomes north ?
What would be the chenges on Earth's climate or any other changes ??

 

[PeroK]

what would happen if north pole of Earth becomes south pole and north becomes south ?
What would be the chenges on Earth's climate or any other changes ??

I thought the north pole already was the south pole!

 

[@PK nd]

I thought the north pole already was the south pole!

i edited it
sorry

 

[Hornbein]

what would happen if north pole of Earth becomes south pole and south becomes north ?
What would be the chenges on Earth's climate or any other changes ??

It would make no difference, as far as I know. There is a period in between in which the magnetic field is reduced, which would allow more radiation to come to earth. But this has happened before many times without mass extinctions or anything like that. I think there would be some effect on climate, but I don't know what.

 

[DrStupid]

what would happen if north pole of Earth becomes south pole and south becomes north ?

Could you describe in detail what you mean? As the poles are defined by the rotational axis the north pole cannot become the south pole. Thus I guess you mean something different.

 

[@PK nd]

Could you describe in detail what you mean? As the poles are defined by the rotational axis the north pole cannot become the south pole. Thus I guess you mean something different.

lets just imagine for a moment .

 

[DrStupid]

lets just imagine for a moment .

What?

 

[DrGreg]

Could you describe in detail what you mean? As the poles are defined by the rotational axis the north pole cannot become the south pole. Thus I guess you mean something different.

I guess we are being asked, what if the Magnetic North Pole moved from near the True North Pole to near the True South Pole?

 

[sophiecentaur]

Aren't we being asked about when N and S flip and change places? This has happened already as described by Hornbein. There are strips of NSNSNSNS iron molecules to be found on the sea bead in one or more of the trenches. Don't ask me for a reference but it's well enough known to be in GCSE textbooks, as I remember.

 

[DrStupid]

I guess we are being asked, what if the Magnetic North Pole moved from near the True North Pole to near the True South Pole?

That's one possibility. Another interpretations would be flipping Earth's rotational axis relative to the ecliptic or flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Since the OP refuses to ask when answered, guessing what he means is probably going to be fruitless.

 

[@PK nd]

i mean flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

 

[@PK nd]

Since the OP refuses to ask when answered, guessing what he means is probably going to be fruitless.

theres a huge time difference between the world and India so man it was night when you all were guessing. What i meant ?
I am really sorry.

 

[davenn]

i mean flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

The Earth's' magnetic field has flipped man y many times over the millions of years

googling such will give you lots of hits

 

[@PK nd]

The Earth's' magnetic field has flipped man y many times over the millions of years

googling such will give you lots of hits

thnx

 

[Jim60]

Last I heard the magnet pole was somewhere in Canada, heading on its way to Britain, is that right?

 

[davenn]

Last I heard the magnet pole was somewhere in Canada, heading on its way to Britain, is that right?

currently under the Arctic Ocean and going by those predictions, is going to pass by the Nth Geographic Pole and across into Russia region

but considering its wild motions over the last 2000 yrs,, I would be surprised if its future location
could be calculated with any accuracy. I have seen a staggering drunk man do straighter paths

Dave

 

[sophiecentaur]

i mean flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

That is never going to happen and the question is a bit like the "what would happen if you took the Sun away?" type questions.
Flipping the magnetic poles has been a common occurrence.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Amazing. After 18 posts, we still don't know what the OP's question is. He says it's flipping the entire Earth with respect to the rotational axis, someone answers as if he said flipping the magnetic poles, and he says "thanks". Well, "thnx". Apparently it's only worth 4 letters to thank us and not all six.

In an act of reckless optimism, let me ask yet again: "What exactly are you asking?"

 

[DrStupid]

i mean flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

That strongly depends on the time scale. If the process is as slowly as the normal continental drift nothing special would happen.

That is never going to happen

Something like that already happened to Mars. The crust has been flipped relative to the axis by 20-25°. Thus the question is not as absurd as you seem to think.

 

[@PK nd]

thanx for your replies .
I now got my answer .

 

[sophiecentaur]

Something like that already happened to Mars. The crust has been flipped relative to the axis by 20-25°. Thus the question is not as absurd as you seem to think.

What happens to Angular Momentum though? 20 - 25° is not a lot compared with 180°; just a tilt and who knows what was the situation just before the event?
The core would have to be rotating much faster than it is to compensate for the 'outside bits' going in reverse.

 

[DrStupid]

What happens to Angular Momentum though?

Nothing.

20 - 25° is not a lot compared with 180°

Yes, of course. But it shows that such a process is possible.

The core would have to be rotating much faster than it is to compensate for the 'outside bits' going in reverse.

I'm afraid you have a wrong impression of the process we are talking about. The angular momentum of the crust doesn't change and therefore doesn't need to be compensated. You could even flip the whole planet upside-down without changing it's angular momentum.

 

[rootone]

If we are talking of the magnetic poles shifting, nothing much would happen, and there is geological evidence of this happening before without any major consequences.
(Perhaps the Earth would receive somewhat higher solar radiation while the changeover is in progress.)
If we are talking of the rotational axis changing then the only way that could happen would be due to very strong gravitational interaction between the Earth and another large body, or possibly a collision.
Since the planets in the solar system are now settled into stable predictable orbits this isn't going to happen, at least not in any time scale relevant to humans.
If it did hypothetically occur it would likely induce chaotic climate changes, but this would settle eventually into some kind of seasonal pattern similar to the pattern at present.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Nothing.
Yes, of course. But it shows that such a process is possible.
I'm afraid you have a wrong impression of the process we are talking about. The angular momentum of the crust doesn't change and therefore doesn't need to be compensated. You could even flip the whole planet upside-down without changing it's angular momentum.

I think you would have to agree that the total angular momentum must be unchanged if there's no external influence. So, if you want the rotation to change, how can you change the sign?

This is what my answers are all based on:

i mean flipping Earth relative to it's rotational axis.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Consider taking a sphere inside a spherical shell and set them spinning at the same rates (ω) around an axis. Allow them to have the same MI values. In the inner sphere, there is a motor which applies a torque and rotates one of the axes relative to the other so that it is inverted. The Angular momentum of the outer shell will have changed by -2Iω and the inner sphere has to have changed its momentum by 2Iω. Is that remotely feasible? Where would the energy come from to support this and to produce four times the rotational Kinetic Energy.

 

[DrStupid]

So, if you want the rotation to change, how can you change the sign?

The angular momentum doesn't change.

This is what my answers are all based on:

No, your answer is based on a flipped axis but we are talking about a flipped Earth relative to an (almost) unchanged axis.

 

[sophiecentaur]

we are talking about a flipped Earth relative to an (almost) unchanged axis.

You'll have to explain how the Earth you refer to has no MI - or how much of the Earth's mass is involved in this flip. Or even how you would describe the mapping between start and end of your process?

 

[@PK nd]

What do you mean , the total mass of Earth would be flipped

 

[jbriggs444]

The question from SophieCentaur seems apt. We need some terminology or metaphor to describe the process called a "flip". When all is said and done, there should be a mapping for each mass element within the Earth from its starting position pre-flip to its ending position post-flip.

In order for the physical process to be realizable, the mapping should be achievable through a continuous deformation. So, for instance, it is not fair to simply wave ones hands and declare "reverse the latitude for every point on the crust of the earth", thereby ending up with Great Britain in the southern hemisphere and Antarctica positioned at the North pole. But it would be fair play to rotate the continental plates containing North and South America on an imaginary axis through Equador and wind up with North America in the southern hemisphere.

 

[DrStupid]

You'll have to explain how the Earth you refer to has no MI

Earth has MI.

or how much of the Earth's mass is involved in this flip.

The crust or the entire planet or something between. It doesn't matter.

Or even how you would describe the mapping between start and end of your process?

There are different possibilities. A rotation around an axis from 0°N 0°O to 0°N 180°O (similar to jbriggs444's suggestion) would result in

Longitude' = -Longitude
Latitude' = -Latitude

But it would be fair play to rotate the continental plates containing North and South America on an imaginary axis through Equador and wind up with North America in the southern hemisphere.

That is sufficient to describe the result of the process but not how it is achievable through a continuous deformation. The reality would be much more complex.

 

[sophiecentaur]

That is sufficient to describe the result of the process but not how it is achievable through a continuous deformation. The reality would be much more complex.

So we are taking bits of the crust and re-arranging them over the surface of the mantle? That's not really 'flipping' the Earth, is it? Hence my confusion. But it would still help if you could describe exactly what you originally meant (and whether you have changed your proposal, on the way through this thread).

 

[DrStupid]

So we are taking bits of the crust and re-arranging them over the surface of the mantle?

Or about re-arranging everything else too or something between. The OP is about flipping the entire Earth. Flipping the crust only is some kind of light version of this topic.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Have I just had a glimmer of the idea in the OP here?
You take a 'small' disc from the surface of the northern hemisphere. which is rotating anticlockwise (but around a polar axis and not a normal to the disc surface), viewed from over the N pole. You take a disc in the southern hemisphere at the same longitude and same latitude with different sign (which is rotating the same way) You then swap the discs (keeping their axes of rotation during the move) so that they exchange their positions. This would mean that the discs would end sticking up, out of the surface but they would still have their original angular momentum. You would then have to rotate them about a (locally) horizontal axis so that they lay right way up and flat against the surface.
That sort of transposition would start and end with the same angular momentum. To achieve this 'flip' could involve a temporary change of angular momentum of the discs during the move or it could involve the discs moving over the surface (Coriolis effect) as it moves out and over the equator.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Or about re-arranging everything else too or something between. The OP is about flipping the entire Earth. Flipping the crust only is some kind of light version of this topic.

OK. Have a fluid body and arrange for convection currents to swap the top and bottom halves, slowly. . . . . . .