2006-11-14 02:14:04 · 10 answers · asked by mzee p 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Well the earth orbit's the sun
2AU * PI / year
An AU is the average distance of the Earth from the sun in it's orbit. Although all orbit's are ellipses, the equation of a circle should approximate close enough.
1AU =149.598×10^6 km.
2AU = 299196000 km
The earth moves really fast so we should convert years into seconds. The earth orbits the sun once about every 365.25 days (the .25 is why we have leap years).
365.25 * 24 * 60 * 60 = 31557600 seconds.
So now all we must figure out to get the speed in km/sec we calculate
(299196000 * PI) / 31557600
=29.785280109497
So the Earth orbits the sun at a speed of 29.785280109497 km/sec. That's pretty fast!
Wikipedia gives a max orbital speed of 29.783 km/sec and a min orbital speed of 29.291 km/sec, so my estimate was pretty darn close.
2006-11-14 03:00:37 · answer #1 · answered by Roman Soldier 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is impossible to know this. Why? Because of Einstein's Relativity Theory which states that there is no Absolute Frame of Reference. What this means is that you can only calculate the Earth's Speed in reference to some other object such as the Sun, or the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy or lets say the Center of our local cluster of Galaxies. However for any of these things we won't know what its (say the Center of the Milky Way) speed is thru space therefore the speed of the Earth will only be in reference to that point. There is no way to determine an absolute speed of the Earth.
2006-11-14 03:09:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Hrm.. well in reality the Earth is moving at 225 km per second or 140 miles per second. This is because that's the speed that the Sun is orbiting the galactic center and we happen to be along for the ride. ;)
2006-11-14 02:42:31 · answer #3 · answered by Deleted 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your question as stated has no answer.
"Speed" only applies to something in relation to something else. The speed of a car is it's speed compared to the Earth's surface. The speeds given above are the speed of the Earth compared to the sun, if that's what you want.
2006-11-14 02:44:22 · answer #4 · answered by Bob 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
If you consider the sun as stationary, the earth travels around it at a speed of 2piD/year where D is the distance from the center of the earth to the center of the sun
2006-11-14 02:19:38 · answer #5 · answered by Steve 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Earth moves around the sun at 30 km/sec (..67,108 mph) and around the galaxy at about 250 km/sec (..559,234 mph) Are you getting dizzy? :)
2006-11-14 03:39:39 · answer #6 · answered by Chug-a-Lug 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1 - the earth's orbit is "almost" circular. (not very egg shaped as most elliptical orbits are.
so considering it as a circle (without loss of accuracy) we may say that for an orbital radius of 93000000 million miles or 148800000 km, it covers an orbital periphery of 2 * 3.1415946 * 148800000 = 934938552.96 km/year = 29.6467 km/sec!!
2006-11-14 02:18:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hi. You can only determine it's speed relative to some other body. It has one speed relative to the Sun, one relative to our galaxy, one for each of the other galaxies (billions at least), and one relative to the background radiation. You have your answer relative to the Sun.
2006-11-14 02:19:38 · answer #8 · answered by Cirric 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I seem to remember having read it is about 30km/sec. Let me check.
I calculate it to be 28.9701527494 km/sec or 18.00506696672 mps
2006-11-14 02:16:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
little over 7,000 mph
2006-11-14 02:17:52 · answer #10 · answered by pepperj1955 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋