why does the earth spin?

Question

ok there are somethings that are just "givens" by can anyone tell me why the earth spins on its axis - and why doesnt it ever change speeds?

Answer 1

It does! It is going slower and slower all the time, due to the gravitational drag of the moon. Eventually, there will be tidal lock, and the moon will be much further away. And you and I will be a billion years dead.
See, all this happens on a PLANETARY time scale. We can't perceive it, except with very very sensitive devices that have only become available fairly recently.
As to why it spins ... maybe its happy?
No no no. It spins because it retains the orbital movement from when it coalesced into a solid mass. At the core, there is a gravitational singularity, and all the matter that makes up our planet is/was in orbit around it, but reached equilibrium in the collapse, forming the "solid" planetary mass.
What astronomers are only now coming to realize (having deduced that there is a lot more matter in the universe than is readily observable) is that there are gravitational singularities at the core of virtually every large-scale body - planets, stars, and galaxies.
The whole notion of planets "coalescing" WITHOUT such a singularity is absurd, even in a Newtonian universe.
So, if you dug a deep enough hole, you would find a hole. Neat-o, huh?

Answer 2

Wow, what a neat question. i imagine that's with reference to the end result that we've seen at the same time as a skater who has palms prolonged and is slowly spinning unexpectedly pullls the palms into the body floor. the effect is that spin price will strengthen. To even spin swifter the skater will be status immediately with the palms up over the pinnacle. This makes the distributions of mass as close toe the spin axis as plausible and makes the spin as large as plausible. the major idea is that ANGULAR MOMENTUM is conseved , ie, can't replace. Angular momentum is the manufactured from the spin price adn the instantaneous of inertia ( a level of the distribution of the mass about the axis of rotation) The product is consistent. If mass is drastically dispersed as earlier condensing right into a planet, and is rather slowly rotating, then at the same time as it condenses right into a planet (making a small second of inertia) the speed of rotation ought to nicely be large. So condensing amplifies in spite of the indisputable fact that rotation there became initially. NOw, what are the probabilities of something not rotating precisely earlier it condenses? curiously, very small considering each and every thing looks to have some rotation. i'm not particular this receives on your question of why, in spite of the indisputable fact that this is been a tremendous question to imagine about.

Answer 3

Stars and planets form as a result of the gravitational collapse of accreting material. Any net translational motion of that initial material is accelerated as its radius of rotation decreases. This is due to the same conservation of angular momentum principle that makes skaters and divers spin more rapidly when they bring their arms closer to their bodies.
Once an initial spin was established for the Earth, the same conservation principle says that its angular momentum will continue unless it can be transferred to another object. With no significant frictional forces to allow that to happen, the Earth can continue to spin indefinitely.

Answer 4

Left over angular momentum from the debris that formed it. As the matter condensed to form the earth, it spun faster and faster like an ice skater drawing in her arms (conservation of angular momentum). The earth is slowing down, the moon is the major cause, slowing the earth down via resistance through moon induced ocean tides.

Answer 5

It is like a gyro system even many of the satellites we put up there is spin stabilized. It works great if u have a antenna and want to point it at the earth u have a reference.

Answer 6

When our solar system was forming, clouds, debris, and dust particles began to accumulate and spin around together (think of those little tornadoes with leaves in them you see on the ground). As the debris increased and became more dense, the spinning increased. Eventually the mass evolved into a planet, but the spinning motion never ebbed.

Answer 7

Because the Sun gravity make the Earth spin.

Answer 8

originally the earth wus "space dust".then,when a bunch of it came together,it had gravity strong enof to congeal into a sphere.
the "space dust"spiraled as it got denser.when it all came together it had a lot of left over momentum and we are experiencing that now.

[and it IS slowing down]
{this is all excepted theory}

Answer 9

The impact the sun has on Earth.

Nothing in the universe is really ever "still"

Answer 10

An object in motion remains in motion until something is done
to effect or change the motion...
Earth is gradually slowing down over billions of years....
Days are getting longer...