Have you ever heard the phrase “If you could dig a hole to China?” I hate to tell you that even if there was a way to do that, you wouldn’t end up in China if you dug directly down. Maybe if you went to Argentina first! Argentina and China are said to be antipodes because they are on the complete opposite side of the planet. If you discount the elevation of mountains or the depths of oceans, an antipode is the farthest place away from you at any given time.
So what’s the antipode of the Quad Cities? The exact spot is off the southwest coast of Australia, somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
It’s interesting to note that most of Antarctica is at a higher latitude than the most northern part of Alaska! Also, since the Earth is mostly covered by water, there are very few landmasses which have land antipodes. Very warm locations always have other warm antipodes. The same works for very cold regions.
A cool website was recently unveiled which allows you to hover over one map and see the antipode on the other map. Check it out by clicking on the image below!
