digging holes to China??

So, if you could dig all the way through the earth, would you really reach China?

I learned a new word this week: antipode.  According to Wikipedia, "Antipodal points on the surface of a sphere are diametrically opposite; on the other side of a globe."

So, is the USA an antipode of China?  Nope. Not at all.

Using this little antipodal toy, I found out that from my home in Texas, if I could dig straight through the earth, I would wind up somewhere in the Indian Ocean. [The top map is the original location and the bottom map is its antipodal point.]

And, if I were to dig all the way through the earth in a straight line from my home here in Taiwan . . . I would wind up in Paraguay. [And, no, Taiwan is not the same size as South America--the map scale on the left is different.]

So . . . I might not be EXACTLY 1/2 way around the world via the earth's core at least, but I sure am close.

And, Tiffany, one of my cousins who came to visit at the end of July, had just left Argentina after being there a year.  For the year that she was there . . . we lived almost exactly on the other side of the world from each other!  Cool!