People living at Earth's equator are traveling at a speed of about 1670km/h as Earth spins on its axis. Are these people being accelerated?
2007-05-02 09:56:48 · 2 answers · asked by Claire P 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Yes they are experiencing centripital acceleratio ac
ac= V^2/R where
V- tangential velocity =1670km/h=464 m/s
R -Earth's radius = 6,378 km
ac= (464)^2 / 6.378 E+6 =0.034 m/sec^2
so a 60 kg person would feel lighter at the equator by about
dW=60kg x0.034 m/sec^2 = 2.02 Newtons
2007-05-06 03:25:38 · answer #1 · answered by Edward 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since all things are relative I assume you mean only relative to the spin of the earth on it's axis. If this is true then the only time they accelerate is when the move parallel to the axis. When they do the are actually experiencing negative acceleration because they moving to a smaller circumference that takes the same time to complete a full spin of the earth.
2007-05-02 17:06:45 · answer #2 · answered by david k 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋