Which state in the United States is the furthest east?

my_baby_love

Alaska Oct 08 05, 5:16 AM

robboy

Contiguous or non-contiguous, Maine is still the eastern extreme of the U.S.A. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_the_United_States Oct 08 05, 5:43 AM

my_baby_love

Easternmost point — Semisopochnoi Island, Alaska Easternmost town — Amchitka U.S. Navy Base, Alaska. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_the_United_States Oct 08 05, 5:59 AM

robboy

You're absolutely right, mbl. Thanks, I learned something new. Oct 08 05, 7:57 AM

DerekT

Thank you all. I was given this question by a Trivia freak on a recent cruise and she gave the answer as "Alaska" because of the International Date Line but I wanted to see if the question was phrased properly before putting it my next Pub Quiz. The question looks O.K. Oct 08 05, 9:10 AM

my_baby_love

This is makes for a good "trick" question because not only is Alaska the Eastern most state it is also the Western most state. Oct 08 05, 4:23 PM

Arpeggionist

To be entirely fair, the international dateline runs west of Alaska, in the Bering Straits. All of Alaska and the Aleutian islands are on the Alaska timezone, which is 6 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time. Very technically speaking, Maine is still the eastern extreme of the US. The Aleutian Islands the western extreme. Oct 08 05, 4:38 PM

DerekT

Some controvesy here, I think, but I haven't put down my Pub Quiz question yet. Wouldn't East v. West be more to do with 180 degrees Longitude rather than the International Dateline? Come on, help me here. Oct 08 05, 7:10 PM

robboy

To answer your thoughts, the International Date Line IS the 180th longitude, or meridian. However, to further wrinkle the problem is that the IDL also zigzags around the Aleutian Islands, to keep it from separating some islands from the others and putting them into a different day. Seems to me that there's probably cause enough for debate to warrant your eliminating that one from your quiz. At least until you can find enough corroboration to keep the losers from throwing their pints at you. As Arpeggionist suggests, Alaska technically is outside the IDL, courtesy of the Aleutians. But as the IDL avoids it, I guess the bigger question is what, exactly, defines where east meets west, the IDL or the 180th meridian. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/International_Date_Line.png Oct 08 05, 7:36 PM

my_baby_love

The easternmost/westernmost points of the U.S. throughout the world are disputed. What is most eastern or western depends on one's point of view about what east and west really mean. By cartographical convention, the Prime Meridian running through Greenwich, England is the least eastern and least western place in the world. It is defined as 0 degrees longitude. The 180th Meridian, on the opposite side of the globe represents the absolute limit of how far east or west one can travel, from a cartographical perspective. Anything exactly on the 180th meridian is neither east nor west; but take a single step to either side and one is at 179+ degrees east or 179+ degrees west, the highest achievable numbers. By this mode of reckoning, the most eastern and western spots in the US are both in the Aluetian Islands, Alaska. If one takes the view that the easternmost place is where the day first begins, and the westernmost is where the day last ends, then the International Date Line is the defining limit for what is most eastern or western. In a new year, the earliest US sunrise takes place on Wake Island. Less than an hour earlier, the sun also rose over Attu Island, Alaska but for December 31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_points_of_the_United_States There is debate on this question but as the above Wikipedia quote shows Alaska would be more appropriately considered more eastern than Maine. Oct 08 05, 11:31 PM

Arpeggionist

That's not entirely true. It will be January 1st in Maine some four hours before it is in Anchorage or the Aleutians, and five hours before Hawaii. (The reason Alaska takes up one time zone is because it is so far north that the length of the day cannot be effectively measured by the amount of sunlight it gets.) For the purpose of avoiding problems with the 180th longitude, I will define the point from which we measure east and west in the US at the center of the US longitude, the nearest city to which is Billings, Montana. Which puts the eastern most edge of the US at Sail Rock, Maine. The western most spot is an unnamed, unmarked island in the Aleutians. The latter will be only slightly farther west than the former is east if one is standing in Billings, Montana. Oct 09 05, 1:11 AM

queproblema

Start here where we concluded Alaska in the furthest east, west, and north: http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question75059.html Then here: "Western Hemisphere 2. that half of the earth traversed in passing westward from the prime meridian to 180° longitude." http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/western%20hemisphere Next: "International Date Line The line of longitude located at 180 degrees East or West (with a few local deviations) where the date changes by a day. West of the line it is one day later than east of the line." http://www.weather.gov/glossary/index.php?letter=i The 180th meridian divides "East" from "West" on the globe. It's entirely geographical/mathematical. The international dateline is a sensible contrivance to take into account political boundaries that are astride that meridian. It's convenient that it largely runs through the bounding main. The fact that Attu's longitude is 173.237500� East proves it's "east," as far as being in the eastern hemisphere is concerned. Naturally it lies west of the rest of the U.S. So does Asia. http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/dca/commdb/CIS.cfm?Comm_Boro_Name=Attu+Station Just for the record, Alaska has two time zones: Alaskan and Hawaiian-Aleutian. http://www.timegenie.com/state.time/usak/ Dec 28 08, 10:15 AM