eli5 How do we decide which one is North Pole and which is south pole? The space is almost infinite on all directions. So what we see on map might be wrong right? I mean it could also be upside down too.
In: Earth Science
As the others have said, the rotation of the Earth (or any sphere) means there are two spots on its surface that don’t “move”, and those are the poles. In addition, an arbitrary convention to use the [right hand rule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Right-hand_grip_rule.svg) to mark North vs. South, to match the convention we have for the magnetic poles for the Earth’s magnetic field, means the poles are where they are right now.
Latest Answers