What is the “Equator? The Earth‘s equator is an imaginary line on the Earth’s surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole, dividing the Earth into the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere The length of the Equator is roughly 24,901 miles.The highest point on the Equator is at the elevation of 15,387 ft at the southern slopes of Volcán Cayambe in Ecuador. This is slightly above the snow line, and is the only place on the Equator where snow lies on the ground.
Yup, that’s yours truly, the Texas Skunk, with one foot in each hemisphere.
See the red line? It runs dead along the equator line. Try walking along a line with your eyes closed,heal to toe. Almost impossible to do. Right at the Equator, it is easy because you have no centrifugal force pulling you one way or the other. Next time the guy with the red and blue lights stop you and tells you to walk a straight line, simply explain to him that it can’t be done because of centrifugal force. Yeah, good luck with that!
This lack of sideways centrifugal force also makes it easy to balance an egg on a nail head.
This is also subject to controversy so try it yourself and see
This is also subject to controversy so try it yourself and see
There are also theories that water circles counterclockwise when going down a drain in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Directly over the Equator it goes straight down and does not swirl. This was demonstrated to us by our guide using a bucket of water and a movable sink. Sure enough as he moved sink to various places the water swirled as advertised. I did not see any slight of hand and he insured the water was at rest before pulling the plug. There is a lot of controversy about this but I can’t argue with what I saw.