We all know that the Earth moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit of 930 million kilometers , at an average speed of 107,280 kilometers per hour; It takes about 365 days to travel that distance. In the same way, our planet rotates on its axis from west to east – like all the other planets in the solar system, except Uranus and Venus – at 1,675 kilometers per hour. But why don’t we appreciate rotation?
always stable
Despite its rotation, which is quite fast as we see, we do not feel any acceleration or deceleration. None of us notice that the surface of the Earth moves and even that this speed changes depending on the latitude and that it decays as we approach the Earth’s poles. Therefore, different parts of our planet experience different speeds of rotation depending on their geographical location on the Earth’s surface. Equatorial regions have the highest rotational speed (which is why most rockets and satellites are launched from there). This is where the Coriolis effect comes into play. Because the Earth rotates relative to a fixed location (that is, around its axis), points along its surface at different latitudes will experience a slight force that causes additional rotation.
When the Earth revolves around the Sun, or when the solar system revolves around the galaxy, or when our galaxy moves relative to the other galaxies in our Local Group, or when the Local Group moves relative to the rest of the universe , there is no effect on our bodies that we are able to feel.
Why don’t we feel anything?
We don’t notice anything because these velocities are constant. Earth’s spin rate and orbital speed stay the same, so we don’t feel any acceleration or deceleration. We only notice this movement if our speed changes, for example while driving. If the car moves at a constant speed on a smooth surface, we will hardly appreciate the movement. While traveling, by plane or car , you don’t feel like you’re moving. However, if we hit an acceleration or, on the contrary, we slam on the brakes, we will feel the movement.
So the reason you don’t notice the Earth spinning is because you and everything else on the planet, including the Earth’s oceans and atmosphere, are spinning along with the Earth at the same constant speed . If the Earth suddenly stopped spinning, yes we would feel it (in fact, it would be the same sensation as the explanation we have given with the car braking). The key is that the constant speed makes it appear that the Earth is not moving at all.
Fortunately, our planet won’t suddenly slow down or speed up for us to notice, which means we never get that feeling that we’re moving.
A little history
The matter of the terrestrial spin had long confused our ancestors. Observing that the stars, the Sun and the Moon seemed to move over the Earth but that none of them noticed that the Earth moved, they interpreted that the Earth was stationary and that it was the heavens that moved over us. Except for the Greek scientist Aristarchus -who proposed a heliocentric model-, most thinkers were convinced of geocentrism . It was not until the 16th century that the heliocentric model of Nicolaus Copernicus broke through and finally convinced the entire world that the Earth rotated on its axis as it also moved in orbit around the Sun.
Have you ever considered that, from the point of view of the Sun, we are all spinning in circles ?
Reference: Doorenspleet, EH , Vaillant, Reyes Improvements in Coriolis flow measurement technology . INIMET Scientific-Technical Bulletin [online]. 2017, (2), 56-68 ISSN: 0138-8576.
Arias, EF The Rotation of the Earth: new models and concepts. Mexican Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics [online]. 2006, 25( ), 24-26. ISSN: 0185-1101.
NASA website
