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3 answers

Any moving object has kinetic energy. To know the origin of the earth's kinetic energy relative to the sun requires knowledge of the origin of the earth (and other planets) that we don't have.

Once the earth is in a stable orbit, energy is conserved. It doesn't require energy to maintain that orbit. Some extremely weak factors cause some loss of that kinetic energy, letting the orbit decay very slowly.

So, what energy are you asking about?

2007-04-10 18:57:29 · answer #1 · answered by Frank N 7 · 0 0

The earth spins and moves around the sun because of conservation of momentum. This is Newton's first law of motion.

There is no virtually no friction in outer space. Perhaps there are a few ways that this energy would be dissipated, but it would be very small.

In deference to the next person to answer, the original source of the energy for the spin and rotation was the big bang.

Off topic in response to the next person: Nearly 100% of experts who study global warming (climate change) agree that this is a real phenomenon that is based on real science.

2007-04-10 16:19:51 · answer #2 · answered by Skeptic 7 · 0 0

The problem with the previous answer is, that the earth had to begin spinning in the first place. Saying that God put the planets in order and set them spinning, is about as reliable an answer as any you will get, because nobody can prove otherwise.

Kind of like the current Global Warming political hypothesis, which has been arrived at almost purely by the process of elimination, rather than pure science.

2007-04-10 16:24:00 · answer #3 · answered by Randall S 1 · 0 0

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