Does the true line of the equator move over time?
493167
IT DIDN'T CHANGE,ONLY OUR ABILITY TO CALCULATE A MORE ACCURATE LOCATION.
1122646
NO!  Normally yes, but right up near the MAGNETIC north OR the magnetic South, it varies.\n\nIf you are between the true north and the magnetic North, the end of the other needle can spin or point to the true North.
153621
No, based on the fossil record there is as yet no evidence of this. \n\nThere have been hundreds of these reversals in the history of the planet, not just a few.  In addition to that there are even more frequent major 'excursions' where the field changes strength. These take place as frequently as 50,000 year intervals. These excursions are quite useful in dating geologic events as they are preserved in the rock record. By combining high resolution (frequent) excursion measurements with isotopic dating of volcanic ash deposits that are less frequent many events can be dated with some precision. \n\nIt appears that most animals and birds which use magnetic fields to navigate during migration are able to adapt over the thousands of years it takes for the reversals to take place. Since the change in the magnetic field is so small for each generation of a species it appears there is no significant impact.  \n\nI've done paleomagnetic dating in areas like the Great Rift Basin of Africa.
644044
Why does it always spiral the same direction?\n\nIt *doesn't*.\n\nTry the experiment in your bathtub.  It can go either way.\n\nSome people mentioned the "coriolis effect", but for\nsomething as small as a bathtub, this effect is *tiny*.\n\nThe last references below describes experiments where (with\nvery careful controls) this effect was demonstrated, but\nfor most of our experiences, we're seeing other local\neffects (ie. residual currents in the water).  The\nexperimenters literally had to let the water sit for *days*\nin order to let the residual currents die down so that they\nwouldn't overwhelm the vanishingly small coriolis effect.\n\n[By the way, the coriolis effect is *not* vanishingly\nsmall for something *really big* -- like a weather\nsystem.  In that situation, there is a significant\ndifference in the speed (due to the earth's rotation)\nof the portion farthest from the equator vs. the \nportion closest to the equator.]
417138
On it's axis I presume. I'm afraid it's not definitive at all:\n\n25 days at the equator\n27 days 35 degrees of latitude from the equator.\n33 days 75 degrees of latitude from the equator.\n\nThis is for the "surface" of the sun.
89051
On average, about once every 250,000 years or so Earth's two magnetic poles switch---the north magnetic pole becomes the south magnetic pole, and the south magnetic pole becomes the north magnetic pole. This means, among many other things, that compasses would all point south instead of north.\n\nScience knows that these pole reversals do happen. Some ancient rocks tell the story. In the far distant past these rocks were molten. At those times their interior materials would align themselves to Earth's magnetic field, much the way an electromagnet will. Careful analysis shows that the magnetic lines of force imbedded in these rocks often were directly opposite to Earth's present magnetic field.\n\nThe last pole reversal happened some 700,000 years ago, so we're sort of overdue for another one.
1073455
No, you've got it backwards, it flushes counter-clockwiswe above the equator, and clockwise below. Right on the equator should flush counter-clockwise as well.
419674
The Earth is approximately 25,000 miles in diameter at the equator, and it spins once in about 24 hours.  So, at the equator, the Earth is spinning about 1000 miles per hour.  However, if you live in the US, the Earth is moving much slower-about 70% the speed depending on your exact latitude-and slower as you go north or south from the equator.
121141
It could be the grid of the earth, (latitude and longitude) the equator is the x-axis. and so on
789602
It's also true with water going down the drain. It goes the other way in the southern hemisphere, because of the earths rotation.
126028
Currently, the earth's north magnetic pole moves about 40 kilometers per year.  The rate has varied considerably; it was only 10 km per year a century ago.
50853
I think you would find a Mercator projection of the map. It shows true direction even if the shape of the land mass is distorted.
15290
Not every latitude gets a minute every day. Some get more, some get less. But daylight starts increasing immediately, as the previous answer said.
707840
There are a lot of variables to consider.  First, lets assume the Earth's rotational axis is a line more or less on the same plane as the Earth's orbit around the Sun instead of the existing axis alignment which is more or less perpendicular to the plane of the Earth's orbit.  Then, lets assume the Earth has the same axial rotation rate it does now, that is, one complete revolution around the rotational axis every 24 hours or so.  Next, lets assume the new rotational axis is fixed.  An easy was to visualize this scenario would be to see the Earth orbiting around the Sun's poles instead of it's equator.  Finally, lets assume you are standing at teh South Pole.  Let's start with the Earth at 12:00, directly above the Sun's North Pole.  The Earth's southern hemisphere would be bathed in sunlight with the South Pole being closest to the Sun.  The Earth's rotational axis would be pointing straight at the Sun from the South Pole.  The Earth's Northern Hemisphere would be in total darkness.  The Earth would still be rotating once about every 24 hours, but at the Earth's South Pole, the Sun would be directly overhead, like at high noon.  It would stay that way for a month, until the Earth moved to 1:00, then the Sun would appear to move about 1/3 of the way down in the sky from high noon to the horizon. and would completely circle the sky every 24 hours, staying at that position all the way around.  It would stay that way for about another month until the Earth moved to 2:00 around the Sun. Then the Sun would appear to be only 1/3 the way above the horizon, and would circle the sky at that level for about another month.   At 3:00 in the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the Earth's rotational axis would be perpendicular to the Sun and parallel with the Earth's orbital path.  Again from the Earth's South Pole, you would have a virtual perpetual dawn with the Sun apparent on the horizon but never quite coming into view.  It would appear that the Sun was circling just below the horizon every 24 hours.  The view from the Earth's North Pole would be the same, except the Sun would appear to be circling the opposite direction just below the horizon.  It would stay this way for about a month, then would reverse the process with the North Pole becoming brighter as the Sun seems to be slowly spiraling up in the sky until the Earth reaches the 6:00 point in it's orbit around the Sun.  At this time, the North pole would be pointing directly at the Sun and it would appear to be high noon at the North Pole for about another month.  The same would happen as the Earth orbits around the Sun from 6:00 to 12:00 only in reverse, with the North Pole getting slowly darker as the Sun appears to slowly spiral down in the sky until it sinks below the northern horizon and starts to slowly spiral back up the sky in the southern hemisphere.  Of course, summer at either of the Earth's poles would be a real scorcher, especially as the Sun climbed high into the sky for months at a time.  The opposite effect would occur on the other side of the Earth, as things started getting colder, until the Sun just disappeared for about 6 months at a time.  \n\nFor folks on the Earth's equator, the Sun would appear to be standing still just below the southern horizon at Earth's 12:00 position in orbit around the Sun.  As the Earth moved in orbit around the Sun, the Sun's rising and setting arc would rise every day until the Earth reached 3:00 in it's orbit around the Sun, then the Sun would be rising and setting in an arc directly overhead and appear much as it does today in mid summer, with 24 hour days and a sunrise and sunset every day.  \n\nProbably the best bet for human survival in such conditions, people would need to be nomads and travel between the equator and the Earth's 30th parallels north and south, following the Sun as it moves over the sky.  Probably wouldn't be much water
340001
The earth turns with respect to the motion of force which was placed upon it with in the vacuum of space, and also with respect to the vacuum of space there is no friction to slow it down, therefor it shall continue to spin forever if it's motion is uninterrupted, or unaltered by another matter energy object of aether large size, or fast speed impacting it with direct respect to the angle of the interaction.\n\nas for your second question the axis is the center point at which the spin turns, and is therefore recognized by us with respect to the earths motion spin as the axis, and if the motion and direction of spin were changed tomorrow to be perpendicular of that which it is today, then the new axis would be perceived tomorrow as existing at some point at which we recognize the equator today.
814657
Our motion around the sun is only one revolution per year, so that doesn't show much change on a daily basis. The rotation of the sun brings new details into view. The speed of rotation varies with position on the sun - things at the sun's equator go around once every 25 days, but it's only spinning once every 36 days at its poles. \n\nSome features on the sun, solar flares for example, come and go in a few hours or less, but sunspots tend to persist for many days, long enough  so you can watch them as the sun's rotation caries them around.
76122
Not true unless an abnormal event causes it to be so.  What will happen is that over time the Earth's rotation will slow down till the year and the day are the same amount of time.  Just like the Moon is right now.