Today's GeoCRAZY Question: Antipodes!

[Bicoastal]

Every kindergartner knows that if you dug a hole straight down through the Earth, you'd eventually get to China. Right? Wrong--at least if you're standing in the United States.

In fact, only ONE US state has a direct geographical opposite, or antipode in another country. Which state is it, and where would you eventually end up if you could burrow straight down through the Earth starting in said state?

PS--Territories don't count.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I dunno, but I hear that the Bermuda triangle has a mirror opposite in

the Pacific, complete with all the mysterious disappearances.

[supernova]

2. Somewhere in Russia wouldn't you?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Hawaii -- Zambia.

[Bicoastal]

7. Close enough!

All of inhabited Hawaii's antipodes lie in Botswana, smack dab in the middle of the Kalahari desert. It's about as different from Hawaii as you can possibly get, environmentally speaking.

You got that quick, so here's a bonus:

All of the lower 48's antipodes lie somewhere in mostly empty stretch of the Southern Indian Ocean. There ARE three VERY sparsely volcanic islands, all property of France, but two out of the three (extremely small) islands place you somewhere in Eastern Colorado, outside of any human population. But the third island (actually an archipelago), although mostly antipodal to Canada, DOES have landfall in Rudyard, Montana (pop. 275). What's the name of the the only island on Earth that's antipodal to a US community in the lower 48?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Without checking a map, maybe Kerguelen, near Antarctica?

[Bossy Monkey]

11. That's what this guy says:

http://www.matthewweathers.com/year2004/antipode_maps.htm

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Woo hoo!

[Bicoastal]

14. Kerguelen it is!

Here's the link I used: http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/antipode/

What fun...I'll have to make this a regular thing.

For some reason, I know waaaay too many of these. Too much spare time wasted on Wikipedia's Geography section.

[Twillig]

4. I'm thinking Alaska, and

the Phillipines?

Australia?

Is it Alaska?

[Bicoastal]

5. Nope! All of Alaska's antipodes are located in the uninhabited Southern Sea.

If you started out in Barrow, you might end up in Antartica--which, not being a country, doesn't count.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. Hawaii - Zambia, possibly Florida - Australia

[Bicoastal]

8. Hawaii was correct, although it's Botswana, not Zambia.

All of Florida lies antipodal to the Indian Ocean, although it's closer to Australia than most.

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. It was hard to tell on the map I was using

Whether Florida would touch Australia.

But given that Hawaii so clearly goes to Africa, and that you said only one state has an atipode, I figured the Florida call was amiss.

[Dr. Strange]

13. An antipodal fact

There are two antipodal points with the same temperature and the same pressure.

http://katlas.math.toronto.edu/drorbn/index.php?title=0708-1300/Class_notes_for_Tuesday%2C_October_30#With_Brouwer.27s_fixed_point_theorem_you_can_prove_amazing_things

Which just goes to prove, once again, that math rocks!

[Bicoastal]

15. At any given moment?

Sorry, math's not my area of expertise.

[Dr. Strange]

18. Yep.

So at a different time, it may be a different set of antipodal points.

[Omphaloskepsis]

16. A handy tool...

http://www.antipodemap.com/

[Bicoastal]

17. Yup, I played around with that...although I think "handy" is something of an overstatement.

After all, antipodes aren't really useful to anyone except for....I dunno, moles? Other than enjoying a bit of geo-trivia, it's not really all that useful to know where'd you be if you could dig straight down, through the Earth's core, til you came out the other side.

Oh well. Look--Perth, Australia and Bermuda are almost on opposite sides of the glove