Geography basics · 4 min
Antipodes: the other side of the world
Where you would come out if you dug straight through the Earth, and how to work it out.
Geography basics
Straight through the middle
A place's antipode is the point exactly opposite it on the globe: where you would come out if you dug a perfectly straight tunnel through the centre of the Earth.
The tunnel would be about 12,700 km long, the Earth's full width.
Lesson notes
Everything from the cards above, on one page to come back to.
Straight through the middle
A place's antipode is the point exactly opposite it on the globe: where you would come out if you dug a perfectly straight tunnel through the centre of the Earth.
The tunnel would be about 12,700 km long, the Earth's full width.
The rule
Flip the latitude: north becomes south by the same amount. Then move the longitude halfway round the world, 180°.
If the longitude is positive, take 180 away; if it is negative, add 180.
Madrid 40.42, -3.70 → antipode -40.42, 176.30
Mostly you get wet
Most land is opposite ocean. Only about 15% of the land on Earth has land directly opposite it, because so much land is in the north and so much ocean in the south.
Dig from almost anywhere in North America or Europe and you surface in the Southern or Indian Ocean.
Questions
How do I find the antipode of a place?
Change the sign of the latitude, then add 180 to a negative longitude or subtract 180 from a positive one.
Is the other side of the world from the US really China?
No. Antipodes of the continental United States are almost all in the Indian Ocean, south-west of Australia.