h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A futile attempt to explaining something taught to 10 years old. All comments welcome

http://www.h2g2.com/A506521

Brilliant! Let's get some scouts in here!

This is a nice entry, and I like the fact it links so strongly to an easy demopnstartion. I wonder if there are any edited entries out there on a (perhaps more theoretical) associated subject, to which you could provide links?

This is nice - the practical demonstration reminds me of Junior school!

Thank-you.

I will be adding some links - good suggestion. I found entries on the Sun & Earth, also one on the North Pole, Alaska which I think is a bit of a red herring. Then I found one on the Precession of the Earth .... and discovered this part bit is a bit inaccurate I'll have to do a bit of correcting.

*In terms of the seasons this has no effect. In fact about the only effects of it are that Christmas day (December 25th) no longer falls on mid-Winter's day as it did when it was first initiated*

In the Southern hemisphere Christmas Day has never fallen on mid-Winter's day - it is the middle of summer. This was accentuated a couple of hundred years ago when Pope Gregory added 11 days to the Julian calander.

Us Southerners look forward to the first Southern Hemisphere Pope adjusting all religious festivals to take account of the fact that the Earth rotates from South to North, - remember the millennium fireworks displays - a fact unknown by the early Christian novelists and northern pagans.

Ahhh yes wonder if any of you Southerners would pick me up on the Christmas day / mid-winter's day thing. I wrote it that way because I didn't reckon they'd have any knowledge of the Southern hemisphere when they initiated Christmas. Anyone know?

Just remembered I found at the June 21 & Dec 21 are the Summer & Winter Solstice, more correct name.

How does the Earth rotate South to North? Rotation is either clockwise or anticlockwise (counterclockwise if you like). Isn't it?

Agreed. A very clear explanation of something I never managed to learn at school. Worth a bookmark.

Arrgh. I was agreeing with post No.4, to save any confusion.

As seen from the North Pole, which direction does the Earth rotate? Counter-clockwise.

The first humans to realise our planet was spherical were early native Australians, probably when harvesting their crops in March - Autumn (Fall)

The last humans to realise the planet rotated were the American advertising people who invented Father Christmas, complete with heavy weather gear, in the 1930s.

Good entry. Nicely explained. Well done.

Thanks everybody for your comments.

I have just revised the entry as follows:
- added a few link to other guide entries
- changed a bit of the terminology, corrected inaccuracies
- added a note to say that seasons in Southern hemisphere are wrong way round
- got rid of some typos, grammos & spellos. I think, however, some still exist so if you see any point them out please.

Confession time - I haven't actually tried out the practicals so I don't truly know they work. However in minds eye they do and the theory behind is right. Anyone tried them yet?

Well, I certainly hope those practical demonstrations work, as this article has been picked for submission to the Editing process! Woo! Please wait nicely while the Sub Eds 'do their business', and also while they edit your entry. You'll get a mail telling you when it's been added to The Guide, you lucky guy.

I look forward to the related yarn - "Enjoying A Summer's Day On The Moon"

Hi,
Pope Gregory r e m o v e d 10 days. But the by time the UK got around to adjusting, a couple of hundred years later, 11 were needed. Sept. 1752 went 1,2,14,15,16.


There's a lady posting here whose nick name is "I want my 11 days back".

10+2=12

Hi,
Pope Gregory r e m o v e d 10 days. But the by time the UK got around to adjusting, a couple of hundred years later, 11 were needed. Sept. 1752 went 1,2,14,15,16.


There's a lady posting here whose nick name is "I want my 11 days back".

2+10=12

????? I know 10+2=12.
What's the significance?

Gregory (or at least his mathematician) came up with approx. 10 (debated between 9,10 and 11). Decided to go with 10. He decided that the next day after Oct. 4, 1582, should be called Oct. 15.

Are you suggesting that the delta after ca. 200 years should only have been 2 days (10+2=12)?