How do we know which way is north and which way is south?

Question

You could say Australia is north and Iceland is in the south, it's just the maps that are biased to say that the 'Northern Hemisphere' is actually the north. Because if you look at the other planets, they are also spherical so there's not really a way of saying which way is up or which way is down. If you're standing in New Zealand, a trip to China would just be moving over the spherical surface, it has nothing to do with up or down. The only up and down we really have is the earth's gravitational pull in its atmosphere. Right?

But then I though, what about magnets? Is it all because of the Earth's magnetic force that tells us which way is north and south or is that essentially bogus too? Or am I even making any sense?

If you think about it, one might say when they took rockets out into space and took photographs, the northern hemisphere was clearly 'up' and the southern was 'lower'. But that's just because of the rocket's position, if it had left from a southern country it would be

Answer 1

is this a question or a statement??

Answer 2

Is it because of the axis of the earth slopes just off vertical making an up and down or a north and south , the observation from space confirming this

Answer 3

----> What's up <----

If you have mountians where you live, you should so know that. I don't know how to put it, but, use a compass!!

Answer 4

Depanding on where you are actually standing, it could be either way. But looking at a world map, there is a northern hemisphere and a southern hemisphere.

Answer 5

first of all, nothing is absolute, everything is relative.

check this and it describes pretty well

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

Answer 6

Would it make you happy if all the names of all the directions were changed arbitrarily?  I mean, that's how the names were established-- arbitrarily.  How about using numbers?  Why not stop using words and substitute numbers-- as in latitude and longitude points or compass points.  Have fun trying to describe which way you were going to someone else.  Of course there would be no point in stopping with just directions.  Like zip codes, the names of places could be changed to numbers-- like 90210.

"Hi honey I'm home.  I just flew in from 10012.  It's so good to be back in 90210 again."

Answer 7

Go back to sleep.  Everything has to have a reference point and for all the earth, sensible people have adopted the purely arbitrary convention of which way is north and have chosen to use that word and that direction as a reference.

Otherwise there is no way to tell one direction from another if everyone just made up their own word and direction.

It doesn't matter if you call the direction "normaljeffruth" as long as everyone knows what you mean.

Answer 8

Originally, it was pure chance.  Maps were made, and those that made them saw themselves as "superior" so drew the maps with their particular country on "top" of the map.  When magnetic poles were discovered and charted, they arbitrarily named the one closest to them as "North."

It was just the way things worked out.

Answer 9

The earth spins on a axis (the north and south poles).  Moving on a spherical surface is not so arbitrary - there are two points, the poles, that one can definately use as a basis.

The names "north" and "south" are pretty arbitrary.  We made those names up.  The notion that "up" is "north" is a bit ethnocentric and comes from the dominant European culture.  Bear in mind, however, that more  people live in the northern hemisphere than the southern.  If you think about it, the terms "up" and "down" are pretty arbitrary too - they are just words we humans have made up to describe concepts.

What's next?  Are you going to complain about the choice of the word "red"?  Do you think that color should have been called "christine" instead?  That makes about as much sense as complaining that "north" is called "north".

Answer 10

there are no arguement about what is north or what is'nt ! get yourself a compass, what does it do ?...................eureka....it allways points to the north (magnetic pole) i think you just been silly to cause a stink. accept the facts because you would change it whatever you do.

Answer 11

The majority of the exploring population lived in the "Northern Hemisphere" and used the "North Star" to help guide them on their journeys.  North and South are generally determined by the polar axis.

When I did live in the Southern Hemisphere, I did come across an occasional map which was reverse or "upside" down to the commonly used map

Answer 12

If you face the sunrise, North is to your left and South is to your right.

This is true on every planet in the Solar System, and in the Universe, for that matter.

Answer 13

I understand it's those philosophical moments , the reason is the first navigators declared North as North and South as South , because the compass pointed North . South is opposite , so East is to one side and West to the other , because if we said move over we wouldn't know which way to move . Buy a compass you'll understand . But does a compass spin at the equator and South become North ?