Why are there North Pole and South Pole, but there are no East Pole and West Pole?

westville sal

As the Earth rotates, the poles are always fixed at the north and south. The continents and oceans are never at a fixed east and west location as the Earth spins.

anand

We have enough trouble with two poles. Why do you need four?

Ronald 7

The Poles are at the Axiis of where the Earth spins The Northern Hemisphere was the first to have intrepid explorers that used sea and land to discover new peoples and Civilisations and begin Trade Routes Some decided to travel North and soon found the Sun got lower in the Sky and it got colder Magellan proved that the Earth was indeed a Globe and the Strait between Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctica They are also known as the Roaring 20's Then Treks were made to both Poles We have come along way from Biblical times where the Middle East was the known world You can Build a house right on the North Pole, and all four sides will be South Facing That is a good one for a Pub Quiz the Equator is a " Menagery Lion running around the Zero Degrees Mark, beginning and ending in Africa " HA HA Yes there are no East or West Poles On the Equator you are on the fastest part of the Earth's surface At the North Pole you would just be turning round Clockwise every 24 Hours At the South Pole, Anticlockwise I live in Londonderry, Northern Ireland you can find me in the North West

Clive

Because the poles are defined by the fact that the Earth spins. If you have a spinning ball, it can only have two places where the surface isn't moving apart from going round and round on the spot. Everything else is going round them. Those are the poles. So of course you can only have two poles.

SRB101

Because you can't have TWO axles on one wheel, or in this case, one planet. The very reason they're called "poles" is that if you had an imaginary axle running through the earth from the center-to-center of its rotation, the ends of the axle would poke out at the North Pole and the South Pole. That's for "True North and South". For Magnetic North and South, you have to find the magnetic dipoles which are located close to each "true" pole.

americathebrutalful

Because the earth spins on its north-south axis not its east- west axis

cosmo

Winnie-Ther-Pooh discovered the East Pole.

bubby

Because the earth is a giant gyroscope that maintains its axis until it wobbles slightly.

sparrow

Because the Earth spins on it's axis. Imagine you stab the Earth thru like a shish-ka-bob, then spin it around. It can only spin right or left...correct? So, therefore, you can only have 2 poles, the points at which the skewer enters and exits.

poldi2

The North and South poles are the points that the Earth appears to rotate around. The Earth does not rotate around the east or west.

Wally

Good Question! Here is the problem ... "North" & "South" are clearly defined - For example NORTH America and SOUTH America (and for that matter "The North" (Yankees) and "The South" (Rebels). However "East" and "West" have no clear distinction. There is both a Western Europe AND an Eastern. There is the Near East and the Far East. Not to mention The "Midwest". Then there is Western civilization and Eastern Philosophy. AND the Cold War between East and West (Including Germany and Berlin itself.) Not to mention that "The Poles" (Polish people) are in Eastern Europe. The resulting confusion has created a situation where it is actually impossible to PICK an East Pole or a West Pole without creating further international conflict. AND we have not even discussed Pole dancers. THAT pole is VERTICAL - pointing neither North, South, East nor West.

Bertsta

Because the earth spins on a N-S axis.

Zheia

Poles are at both ends of the rotational axis so there can only be two. In the case of Earth it is north - south. For planet Uranus it would be east - west because the planet has a steep rotational axis making it appear to roll along the plane of its orbit. However, it is possible to have more than one magnetic pole. Jupiter has eight.

Karen Coyle

The simple answer is because the Earth rotates on an axis that is almost vertical (can't remember what angle it is tilted at). Because of this you can reach a maximum North and maximum South, meaning if you are at the South pole, no matter where you turn you can only go North, not more South, thus making it one of the poles. On the other hand, if you head East you can keep going East (or West) for as long as you want and you'll just circle the Earth without ever reaching a point where you can't go East. Thus, East and West have no poles.

David

Russia annexed Poland, it's all east.

oneofmagi@rocketmail.com

I don`t know, why earth is not flat.

Rebekah

I’m a physicist, and I agree with Clive’s response the most. If you take a top and spin it, everything spins around a single line that you can draw from the point of contact with the table and the handle in which you were able to spin it. If this was the earth , the “top” handle part would be considered the North Pole, and the “bottom” contact part would be the South Pole. Similarly, if YOU chose to spin around blindfolded for a piñata, your “axis” would be the line from your feet to your head, pointing up or down, and it would be what everything else rotates around. This is why there are only two poles—earth spins around an axis.

JG

The earth only has one rotational axis. The North and South pole are located at it.

Tom S

There is only one rotational axis, one end we call "North" the other "South".

Sanjay

Because the Earth is an oblate spheroid ...

AdamTheAtheist

The poles are the ends of Earth's axis.

Starrysky

North Pole is a unique spot on Earth (actually, on the ice floating on the Arctic Ocean. South Pole is a unique spot on the ice near the center of Antarctica. But there are no unique East or West places. The only East or West places are the Prime Meridian and the International Dateline. And those were marked by humans when doing navigation with maps and clocks and sextants. The position of the Prime Meridian was given by the dominating maritime nation at the time--England. It went through a spot near London where an observatory was set up to monitor the sun and set clocks correctly. While the International Date Line that is about half the world away from the Prime Meridian seems like a good place to divide the world East to West by a day, it is not straight or done by science. It is placed by geography and even more by politics (governments). So not really unique.

Amy

Because an axis of rotation is 1-dimensional.

Pearl

probably cause theres nothing there at the east or west

Mog

Because physics.

CarolOklaNola

Because that is NOT how the Earth rotates. Earth's magnetic field exists because of its hot core and relatively rapid rotation. There ARE magnetic anomalies like the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic and the Dragon Triangle in the South China Sea in the Pacific Ocean which is disputed territory. Magnetic north and south are moving on several different cycles. Venus has no consistently detectable global magnetic field because it rotates so slowly and is upside down. Venus' core is hot and there has been and is tectonic activity. Venus has the equivalent of continents.

KennyB

That's the way magnets work - they are dipoles not quadrupoles.