Perhaps repeat query: If the Earth had always spun the other way, how would things be different?

[dtilque]

Clocks would go around backwards.

[Mangetout]

@dtilque

Clocks would go around backwards.

Anticlockwise, not backwards.

Assuming that in this scenario they would still be based on conventions arising from the visual appearance of sundials in the Northern Hemisphere.

Except of course, we would still call it ‘clockwise’.

[awldune]

@Michael63129

For one, winds would generally blow in the opposite direction, which would have significant effects on the location of deserts (those formed by mountains, as opposed to subtropical deserts which occur due to the general atmospheric circulation); for example, the western U.S. might be much wetter than it is now because the Rockies wouldn’t be in the way and moisture from the Gulf would flow westwards (the west coast would be much drier though due to the same mountains and a lack of offshore storms).

This seems like one of the biggest effects. The Amazon would look more like the Outback and vice versa.

[panache45]

@Mince

.eciton neve t’ndlouw snamuh hcihw fo ynam ,secnereffid eltbus lareves eb dlouw ylbaborp ereht tub ,tciderp ot tluciffiD

.sihT

[CookingWithGas]

Would continental drift have occurred differently? Would we end up with the same continents as today at all?

[MikeS]

@Michael63129

For one, winds would generally blow in the opposite direction, which would have significant effects on the location of deserts (those formed by mountains, as opposed to subtropical deserts which occur due to the general atmospheric circulation); for example, the western U.S. might be much wetter than it is now because the Rockies wouldn’t be in the way and moisture from the Gulf would flow westwards (the west coast would be much drier though due to the same mountains and a lack of offshore storms).

Another fun effect would be that tropical storms would predominantly move from west to east and slam into the eastern coasts of oceans. In the Pacific, all the typhoons that hit Asia would now head towards California and Mexico instead. Peru and Chile would probably see some action as well. In the Atlantic, it’s harder to say, but I wouldn’t be surprised if storms developed over the Caribbean and eventually tore up Morocco or Spain.

Ocean currents would also change; for example, the Gulf Stream would now flow up the eastern Atlantic … while eastern Canada and possibly Greenland would be warmer.

I’d guess that it still wouldn’t be enough to keep the Northwest Passage open, though; you’d still need to get around the north end of Somerset Island, 74°N (about the latitude of Svalbard.)

[Tangent]

Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

[scr4]

Are we assuming that the earth orbits the sun in the same direction, but spins in the other direction?

If so, and the rotational rate is the same, then the solar day would be shorter than the sidereal day by 4 minutes. And there would be 2 extra days in a year.

[Darth_Ayebaw]

@Measure_for_Measure

Most recent theory of the moon’s origins:
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/earth-gave-violent-birth-to-the-moon-new-harvard-theory-says.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

The earth was spinning rapidly, so rapidly that it was football shaped. There was an impact. Part of the Earth’s crust and various material was thrown out, forming an accretion disc. Over the next 10,000 years the disc solidified into the moon. The earth’s rotation slowed and the remaining material formed into something closer to a sphere.

Wouldn’t it be kind of disk-shaped, not football shaped? Assuming the bulge across the equator is equalized and not concentrated in two big bumps…

[Learjeff]

@Michael63129

… and northern Europe would be much colder than today due to prevailing winds off of Asia (recent extreme winters have been linked to a reversal of normal wind patterns, as described in the last paragraph here; note that the Gulf Stream itself isn’t as important as some would have you believe), while eastern Canada and possibly Greenland would be warmer.

Interesting article, thanks!

Of course, the MOST significant difference is that water would swirl the opposite direction when you flush! ( )

@Darth

Wouldn’t it be kind of disk-shaped, not football shaped

That’s what I’d have thought: football shape doesn’t seem to make sense. I’d expect an oblate speroid.

[JKellyMap]

@Skammer

The pressure fronts on weather maps would move right to left, and that would just look wrong.

If you spend some time in, say, southern Mexico or the West Indes (Caribbean), stay away from televised weather reports. You might go mad.

[snowthx]

Would hurricanes and low-pressure zones spin in opposite directions than they do today (coriolis)? Would affect which part of the storm was more fierce.

[manila]

Did anyone else read the OP title as a euphemism for what would happen if the earth was gay?

I need to get out more.

[kurtisokc]

Your dog comes back, your wife is faithful to you, and your pickup truck gets fixed. No, wait. I’m thinking of what happens when you play a country song backwards. Never mind!

[Leo_Bloom]

@ZipperJJ

The Japanese flag would be different.

And they wouldn’t be Oriental.

The national anthem of the state of Israel would piss off all the Ashkenazim, for a change.

And, as Bloom muses,

“What Arthur Griffith said about the headpiece over the Freeman leader: a homerule sun rising up in the northwest from the laneway behind the bank of Ireland. He prolonged his pleased smile. Ikey touch that: homerule sun rising up in the northwest.” (U4.101)

[Horatio_Hellpop]

The 13 Colonies and the Gold Rush might have been on the same coast, delaying America’s national expansion.