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Old May 28th 12, 08:47 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
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Default Moments of Inertia and the Shape of Continents and Landmasses on Earth

On Mon, 28 May 2012 11:56:54 -0700 (PDT), Nico V
wrote:

A few nights ago I was thinking about a hypothetical theory. The full
explanation will be below, but as a short introduction I think Earth
doesn't only rotate around it's own axis of rotation and orbits the
sun, I'm guessing you also could derive a point in space where our
solar system rotates around, solely by studying the shapes of the
continents.


The next point of rotation of the Solar System is the galactic center,
unless you include some very slow precessional modes. Suffice to say,
the positions and shapes of the continents have changed radically over
the history of the Earth, and are continuing to do so- all well
explained by convective forces inside the Earth which are orders of
magnitude greater than any centripetal forces that are present from
orbital motions.