Difficulty: Fun
A famous person built a square house so that the windows on all four sides look south.
Where is this house? (And can you name the famous person?)
Need a hint?
Think of where you are on Earth right now. There are imaginary lines that connect the North and South Poles. If you walk on one of these lines so that you’re getting closer to the South Pole, then you’re walking south.
Can you think of a place where walking in any direction brings you closer to the South Pole?
Brainteaser answer
The house is built directly on top of the North Pole, so the famous person is Santa!
Often, we see the cardinal directions of north, east, west and south drawn on a two-dimensional plus sign. But the Earth isn’t flat, it’s a 3D globe!
To talk about direction on a globe, we divide the Earth’s surface into lines of latitude and longitude. Latitude lines circle the Earth parallel to the equator. So, walking along a latitude line, like the equator, means you are walking due east or due west. Either way you’re not getting any closer to the North or to the South pole.
Meanwhile, longitude lines circle the Earth between the North and South Poles. Walking along a longitude line toward the North Pole means you are walking due north. Similarly, walking along a longitude line towards the South Pole means you are walking due south.
The Earth divided into red lines of latitude (side to side) and black lines of longitude (up and down).
Credit: Djexplo / Wikimedia Commons
Looking at the map you can see two things:
First, the equator has the biggest circumference while all the other lines of latitude get smaller and smaller the closer they are to the poles. Right at the poles, the line of latitude vanishes completely! And that means you can’t actually go east or west from the pole.
Second, all the lines of longitude cross at the poles. The map above shows all the longitude lines crossing at the North Pole. This means that at the North Pole, every direction goes along one of those lines, directly south!
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