I was recently listening to Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants, whose quirking take on pop music ventures into history – Istanbul (Not Constantinople) – and science. You’re not a nerd if you don’t smile while listening to Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas). In any event Ana Ng opens with the lyric –
‘Make a hole with a gun perpendicular
To the name of this town in a desk-top globe
Exit wound in a foreign nation
Showing the home of the one this was written for’
This verse is the musical equivalent of the popular quip of digging a hole to China, which I’ve always understood to be a euphemism for a Sisyphean or impossible task. It’s also the basis for the ‘Gravity Train.’ A classic problem given to students in early physics classes. Essentially, if you ignore friction, the heat and pressure at the center of the earth, and other such ‘real world’ problems, how long will it take a train relying solely on gravity to pass through the center of the earth and emerge on the far side of the globe. Even though you’ve obviously got time to do the math yourself (why else would you be spending it on this blog), in the interest of getting back on topic, the answer is 42.2 minutes with a maximum speed of 17,671.8 mph at the center of the earth.
Today’s Map
Back to the song and of course a map. Assuming the bullet from the gun follows a straight path through the globe, i.e., it travels on a diameter path like the gravity train, the exit wound will be at the diametrically opposed point or antipode of the starting location. That got me thinking about where the two characters in the song might be living. The song references the ’64 World’s Fair, which was in New York. My inexact look at my globe suggested western Australia, near Perth, but I wanted a more exact match. Short of shooting a hole through my globe or doing some math, what was the best way to find the correct location? This being Map Monday, of course the correct answer is a map. There are several good maps featuring antipodes out there, but this one from Wikipedia includes city pairs.
As you can quickly see from the map the entire continental US antipodes (new verb?) to the southern Indian ocean. Perth Australia’s antipode is on land, but instead of New York it’s ~773 miles to the southeast in Bermuda. Does the fact that it contains a dose of poetic license lower my liking of Ana Ng? Nope it’s still a good song. As for digging a hole to China, your best bet is southern South America.
As always, thanks for reading.
Armen
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Armen, I’ve just decided you have W-A-Y too much time on your hands. (…just kidding)
Hmm, Rick, you may be on to something, although I’d venture it’s not the quantity of time, but rather my use of it that’s an issue.