All Questions
33
questions
56
votes
8
answers
44k
views
Proof that the Earth rotates?
What is the proof, without leaving the Earth, and involving only basic physics, that the earth rotates around its axis?
By basic physics I mean the physics that the early physicists must've used to ...
- 563
40
votes
3
answers
10k
views
Why wouldn't the part of the Earth facing the Sun a half year before be facing away from it now at noon?
The Earth takes 24 hours to spin around its own axis and 365 days to spin around the Sun. So in approximately half a year the Earth will have spun around its axis 182.5 times.
Now take a look at the ...
- 555
38
votes
8
answers
16k
views
Would it matter if the Earth rotated clockwise?
In the Futurama episode "That Darn Katz!" they save the world by rotating the Earth backwards saying it shouldn't matter (which direction Earth rotates). If Earth rotated clockwise and remained in it'...
- 715
13
votes
2
answers
3k
views
If the Earth didn't rotate, how would a Foucault pendulum work?
How does the Foucault pendulum work exactly, and would it work at all, if the Earth didn't rotate?
Foucault
7
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Will the sea form a concave surface?
Without neglecting the fact that the earth is rotating, let us be in a ship (such that there is no relative motion between sea and ship) in a sea that surrounds the northern most or southern most ...
user79290
5
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Why doesn't the Earth release you as soon as you escape it?
I've always wondered, that since the Earth is moving at a very fast velocity around the Sun, why is it that when astronauts leave the Earth, the Earth doesn't immediately move away from them at ...
- 1,158
5
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Video of Earth spinning?
If the Earth is spinning or rotating at a really fast speed, why haven't we seen any videos from space of it spinning when we get a lot of photos of it?
- 1,158
5
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Does the Earth rotate vertically too?
We know that the earth has seen several Ice Ages.
And we know the Earth's magnetic poles seem to flip once in a while.
Could all of this be explained by a once every 250 Million Years or so the ...
- 821
5
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Why doesn't Foucault's pendulum show Earth's spin at the equator but works at the North/South poles
If you where directly above the North/South pole and set up Foucault's pendulum, why does it show the Earth's spin even though the Earth isn't spinning there? This is also where it takes the shortest ...
- 359
4
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Air flight and Earth's rotation
I read a response asking why flights of equal distance east and west take roughly the same time (disregarding wind actions). I have trouble visualizing part of the answer; "the speed of the rotation ...
- 53
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Will an object dropped from a high building displace due to the Earth's rotation?
I read that in the 16th and 17th century, the question of whether the Earth rotates around its axis or all celestial bodies rotate around it was extensively debated. One of the anti-rotation arguments ...
- 433
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can we calculate the frame dragging force of the Earth?
Although clearly this force would be significantly greater with a rotating black hole, is it still possible to calculate this drag for say a satellite orbiting the Earth?
- 615
2
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Change of direction of rotation with change of perspective
Take an apple. Rotate it around its vertical axis to the right (relative to you). If you look at it from above (your head above the apple) and take a point there while the apple is rotating, you will ...
- 97
2
votes
1
answer
403
views
How big (in meters) could the difference be between ECI and ECEF coordinates at midnight UTC?
Is the only difference due to leap seconds, etc. or other differences between UTC and updated forms of universal time, such as UT1? In other words, are all earth-centered inertial (ECI) coordinate ...
- 145
2
votes
1
answer
369
views
Does the Earth rotate the same encased in ice during the height of an Ice Age as it does when the bulk of it's water is liquid and always in motion?
Ice Age vs. Now.
Does the Earth rotate at the same rate when encased in ice during the height of an Ice Age as it does when the bulk of it's water is liquid and always in motion?
- 715