The Earth’s Rotation Explained: Why Humans Can’t Feel It and What Would Happen if it Stopped

KOMPAS.com – The Earth rotates or completes one full rotation on its axis every 24 hours, exactly 23 hours 56 minutes.

Rotation is a term that describes the circular motion of an object around its center.

Quoted from the National Geographic page, the earth rotates or spins on its axis at a speed of around 1,600 kilometers per hour.

In addition, this planet rotates around the sun at a speed of about 107,800 kilometers per hour.

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If the earth rotates at that speed, why can’t humans feel it?

The reason humans don’t feel the Earth’s rotation

There are two main reasons why you don’t feel the earth’s rotation, namely because the earth’s rotation moves at a constant speed and also because of gravity.

1. Rotates at a constant speed

Quoting the Science Alert page, the first reason why humans do not feel the earth rotating is because of the nature of the earth’s movement.

Imagine that you are in a plane that is traveling at a constant speed and altitude, as if you are not moving and cannot feel the movement of the plane

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The reason is simple, namely because you, the plane, and everything in it move at the same speed.

A similar thing also happens to the rotation of the Earth which rotates non-stop at an almost completely constant speed.

Everything on Earth also moves along with the rotation of the Earth. In fact, the earth’s atmosphere moves with humans at the same speed.

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2. Gravitational force

The next reason why humans do not feel the rotation of the Earth is gravity, which holds humans to the Earth much stronger than the force that makes them fly outwards.

Quoted from the Live Science page, the rotation of the earth pulls everything out in the same way, but the force that holds everything on the ground overcomes this pull.

The gravitational acceleration at the Earth’s surface is about 9.8 m/s^2, and the reduction in gravitational acceleration due to the Earth’s rotation at the equator is about 0.03 m/s^2.

It can be measured but is so small compared to what you feel from gravity itself, that you don’t notice it.

Also read: What would happen if there was no gravity on Earth?

What would happen if the Earth stopped rotating?

Humans do not feel rotation because the Earth moves at a constant speed, and everything on the earth is held firmly in place by gravity.

You would notice it if the Earth suddenly stopped spinning, but with a number of big impacts.

Quoting the Astronomy page, if the earth suddenly stopped rotating, this would cause a major disaster for most of the planet’s surface.

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The Earth rotates, at the equator, at a speed of up to 1,770 kilometers per hour. When the rotation stops, everything above it will fly eastward.

As a result, high-speed winds whose gusts still rotate almost as fast as the planet, will sweep the surface clean.

In fact, if the rotation stops gradually and slowly, the impact will still be large, even though it will occur over a longer period of time.

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Some things that might also happen when the earth stops rotating are:

• Changes in the movement of the sun
• Disruption of circadian rhythm
• Weather patterns change
• Constraints on satellite orbits
• Loss of magnetic field.

Luckily, without enormous external forces, the chances of the Earth stopping its rotation are almost non-existent.

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2024-02-12 02:00:00
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