Why can't we feel the earth spinning?

Question

the earth is rotating at a high speed. why doesn't the centrifugal force throw us into space. and why don't we feel it?

Answer 1

Because it only goes around one time a day. If you were on a merry-go-round that took 24 hours to go once around, you wouldn't feel that either.

The high speed is offset by the large distances that have to be covered. It is going 1,000 MPH at the equator, but the Earth is 24,000 miles around the equator. You are slightly lighter at the equator because of centrifugal force, but only by a fraction of a percent. I have calculated the centrifugal force at he Earth's equator due to its rotation, and I found that it is less than 1% as strong as gravity.

Answer 2

Eventhough there is centrifugal force ,the gravitational force pulls us in .As the centrifugal force produced is very small when compared to the gravitational force produced ,there is no way that it will throw us in to space .As the entire atmosphere is moved along with the rotation of the earth ,we cant feel the earth rotating .The ony way to feel it ,is by watching the sun and stars.

Answer 3

You could feel it, but you would have to be very very still -- not even breathing -- for at least 15 minutes. Otherwise the vibrations in your body would be 1000 times stronger than the centrifugal force from the Earth. Since you can't be that still, you can't feel the Earth spinning.

This force doesn't throw is into space because gravity is about 250 times stronger.

Answer 4

We would if it accelerated or decellerated but the spin is constant. Also the atmosphere spins with the planet so we don't notice because to us the air is still and so is the ground. If you were driving a car on a veerrry smooth road that was silent and you had your eyes closed could you tell you were moving?

Answer 5

In general, the things we feel through our bodies are changes rather than absolutes. For example, we feel cold when heat move out of our bodies and into the surrounding environment. We feel warm when the reverse happens. But we don't "feel" our own constant temperature of 98.6.

So, since we are spinning with the earth constantly, we don't feel it. We do however, feel changes from that spinning. Earthquakes are a good example. We feel the wind for the same reason, it is moving faster than we are relative to the spinning earth.

It is important to keep this in mind because some sensations we have are interpreted by us as exactly the opposite of what is in fact happening. For example, when a gas expands it get warmer, Right? Right! Ever sprayed a can of compressed air --like what is used to clean dust from computers-- on your hand? It will feel cold, so you might conclude that the compressed air is cold, when in fact it is warming up. You body is telling you about the direction of the *change* in heat flow, but noting about the absolute temperature itself.

Put very concisely, changes we notice, constants we usually don't.

So, let the earth *stop* spinning and we will know it!

HTH

Charles

Answer 6

If we constantly felt this we would lead dizzy confused lives. So we are designed not to notice it. Also the atmosphere and the ground all spins at the same speed so we can't notice anything happening.
As for why we don't fly off into space - the earth is actually pretty heavy. It weighs hundreds of millions of tons and has a huge amount of gravitational pull. That is why you land when you jump rather than float like you would in space.

Answer 7

To experience this force, fill a bucket with water and spin it as fast as you can, the water won't spill out of the bucket, it is the same for the earth, only one is centrifugal and the other is centripedal. The force that is holding us to the earth pulls harder than the one that is pulling us away. This shows why we can't feel it.

Answer 8

If you look at the sky at night and watch the stars you will see that they are moving around the earth clockwise and the world is rotating in an anticlockwise direction. Gravity holds us down. The world does not spin in high speed..everything in the sky appear to move faster if looking through a telescope.

Answer 9

It is because we are spinning with it. So is the atmosphere. SInce the earth turns at a constant rate, the linear accleration is zero. There is nothing to "feel" through the vestibular or position systems in our neurological make-up.

Answer 10

Ever notice the "hour" hand on the clock moving? Same idea.