What would happen if the Earth turned 180 degrees?

[Gingerbread Demon]

OK currently my house is east west facing...... The sun rises through our back window and the afternoon sees the sun setting through our front windows......

But what would happen if the Earth spun 180 degrees around so that what direction was sunset is now sunrise? Would it affect the seasons, animals, plants?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Christmas would fall in summer as it currently does in Australia. The Earth is slightly nearer the sun in northern winter so the new summer might be slightly warmer. Animal migration would be disrupted at least untill they adjusted. Due to tidal effects, the moon would be slowly drawn back toward the earth rather than drift away as at present and earth's rotation rate would slowly increase - not sure my logic is correct here though.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

By the way, flipping the earth would require a large change in its angular momentum. The earth is like a gyroscope. Try flipping a spinning toy gyroscope over by hand to get an idea of the significant force that would be required.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Ah I've tried that trick with a gyroscope.... It's hard to flip

 

[Maurice]

The tidal effects? The Earth's mass and ocean mass would remain constant. How would that change anything about the Moon's distance?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The tidal effects? The Earth's mass and ocean mass would remain constant. How would that change anything about the Moon's distance?

I don't think it would.... Only thing that would change is the climate and the seasons. Australia would be at the top of the world yay which means snow....

 

[Maurice]

Ummm...what? The top of the world gets more snow than the bottom?

 

[Santaman]

If the earth would flop upside down all the sudden but its orbit would remain the same it only would mean that the sun would seem to travel the other way around, the moon would seem to travel much faster because now it would orbit opposite of the Earth's rotation, meaning ebb and flood also would occur faster, as for climate and all, nothing would happen since it is still in the same spot, the timing of the seasons would be reverse so indeed Australia would have winter in the cold season, and Europe etc would have Christmas in the warm season, however, that is because we humans have only one global system of telling when it is summer or winter, back then they didn't know there was a other side of the world.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

The tidal effects? The Earth's mass and ocean mass would remain constant. How would that change anything about the Moon's distance?

Ahem - let me Google that for you.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/ab...e-earth-when-was-this-discovered-intermediate

 

[StarCruiser]

Well - everyone has missed the obvious...

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

 

[Maurice]

Ahem - let me Google that for you.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/ab...e-earth-when-was-this-discovered-intermediate

Quite aware that, thank you, but I didn't catch the premise included the Earth's spin staying in the same direction relative to its surface when flipped.

 

[Christopher]

Here's a similar musing from xkcd's Randall Munroe:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/10/

Not quite the same premise, but fun nonetheless.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Quite aware that, thank you, but I didn't catch the premise included the Earth's spin staying in the same direction relative to its surface when flipped.

Yeah, I interpreted the OP implying that the orientation of the earth's spin vector would be reversed so it would rotate in the opposite direction relative to now. If the outer crust merely "slipped" and was massless enough that it didn't transfer any significant angular momentum to the remainder of the earth, which retained its spin vector orientation, the forces on the moon would be similar to what they are now and the moon would continue to gain orbital momentum by the gradual braking of the earth's rotation.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Yeah, I interpreted the OP implying that the orientation of the earth's spin vector would be reversed so it would rotate in the opposite direction relative to now. If the outer crust merely "slipped" and was massless enough that it didn't transfer any significant angular momentum to the remainder of the earth, which retained its spin vector orientation, the forces on the moon would be similar to what they are now and the moon would continue to gain orbital momentum by the gradual braking of the earth's rotation.

No my OP was simply if the Earth were flipped over so the South pole is now at the top and North is at the bottom.

IF I were a Q it would be a fun prank to pull on you puny humans

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Here's a similar musing from xkcd's Randall Munroe:

https://what-if.xkcd.com/10/

Not quite the same premise, but fun nonetheless.

Haha I like that one it's fun

 

[Dryson]

Everything would be thrown into chaos because the core of the planet would shift causing new EM field to be created.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Everything would be thrown into chaos because the core of the planet would shift causing new EM field to be created.

It would settle down....... It's my prank I'd make sure the core spun in some fashion

 

[Sgt_G]

In the video, she said the tides are driven by gravity fro the north and south poles. WHAT??

Question for the OP: In your scenario, when the world flips, does the rotation stay the same direction in relation to land masses (sun still rises over New Your and later sets in California), or does it stay the same direction in relation to the Earth's orbit around the sun (sun rises over California and later sets in New York)?? Also, are you flipping the entire planet, or just moving the crust and leaving the interior core along??

I do love the question posed above because I "invented" a world for where one of my Trek-story character grew up. It spins and orbits normally, except the axial tilt varies from, oh say, 12 deg to 35 deg and back over a period of 45 years or so. The climate goes thru some fairly substantial swings, obviously.

EDIT: Just crossed-posted with someone....

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

In the video, she said the tides are driven by gravity fro the north and south poles. WHAT??

Question for the OP: In your scenario, when the world flips, does the rotation stay the same direction in relation to land masses (sun still rises over New Your and later sets in California), or does it stay the same direction in relation to the Earth's orbit around the sun (sun rises over California and later sets in New York)?? Also, are you flipping the entire planet, or just moving the crust and leaving the interior core along??

I do love the question posed above because I "invented" a world for where one of my Trek-story character grew up. It spins and orbits normally, except the axial tilt varies from, oh say, 12 deg to 35 deg and back over a period of 45 years or so. The climate goes thru some fairly substantial swings, obviously.

EDIT: Just crossed-posted with someone....

The Earth's orbit stays the same...... The only change is the the the earth has flipped 180 degrees... The spin would still be maintained in whatever direction it was before the flip.

I'll provide a picture.

This is what I meant. If the globe of the world were turned upside down.

 

[Sgt_G]

The Earth's orbit stays the same

Well, yeah. Of course.

The spin would still be maintained in whatever direction it was before the flip.

In relation to the land, so the sun still rises over the Atlantic in New York city, right? So the spin becomes opposite from the orbit around the Sun.

Assuming the same 23.5-deg tilt, I'm pretty sure that won't change weather / climate patterns. (Note: I am a retired USAF Weather forecaster.) The seasons flip so that New York's winter is June/July/August, assuming the new North Pole still points towards the current North Star.

I don't see that tides would change. However, long term, due to the Earth spinning the opposite way as viewed from the Moon, I suspect that would change how fast the Moon is moving away from Earth. That's assuming whatever caused the Earth to flip didn't knock the Moon out of orbit altogether.

 

[Samuel]

I sense the makings of a Space:1999 episode