How do I explain this to a second grader?

Question

I work with a second grader who has asked me several times why we don't feel the Earth move. I know why, but I don't know how to explain it in a way she can understand. Any suggestions would be great!!

Answer 1

Because the Earth moves very slowly. It takes all day and night to turn around once. -- Have her stand still for 10 minutes, with her eyes closed. Then, with eyes still closed, have her rotate a tiny bit (about 1/32 of a full turn), and tell her that the Earth would take 45 minutes to turn that much.

Answer 2

Take her for a ride in a car. As you accelerate, explain that the feeling movement she has is because the car is changing speed. Then when you get to a steady speed, she will stop felling the motion of the car, and you can explain that it is just like the earth moving, you are all moving at the same speed so it feels like you are standing still.

Example is a good way of teaching children that young. concepts of acceleration will be lost on her unless she experiences it herself and it is explained to her. . .

Answer 3

Come on, this is not hard.. it is like riding in a car.. the only thing you feel is the bumps in the road, the acceleration and the stopping or slowing down.. when you are driving on the highway and the car is running smooth.. you do not feel the motion.. your second grader is a passenger on earth and is moving at the same speed as the earth.. it is as simple as that..

Answer 4

We don't feel the Earth moving because the speed of the Earth's rotation is constant. So unless by some freakish miracle or chance that the Earth suddenly slows down or speeds up, we won't feel it.

I think s/he's smart enough to understand that.

Answer 5

I agree with the explanation of walking in the corridor of a train in constant velocity, but even so you can feel some movement. Explain to the kid that the Earth is so immense that the movement is unperceptive and that we don't feel the movement because we are moving with the planet.
Good luck.

Answer 6

this ones pretty hard to explain to a 2nd grader I would try centrifugal force like when you swing a bucket of water around newton and others have explained it but it would be difficult to demonstrate.
This Probably doesn't help much but I love teaching kids about science and stuff (and so does my wife) and were usually quite good at it making it understandable soory I cant offer much help on this one but I'm sure I can help on other similar problems so im going to add you to my contacts to keep an eye on your questions look for me in your fans

Answer 7

Give an example. Say that we are on a train, and that the train is the Earth. On the choo-choo-train, we don't feel anything when we walk or jump around inside even though it is moving, because it is not accelerating.

Take him or her on a field-trip on a train!

Answer 8

Since the earth has air and space doesnt when it moves we dont feel anything because space doesnt have any air to blow.(I know this is not true buut it is a great way to explain it)

Answer 9

Take sand to illustrate. in case you gently fill a field with sand, and divide the mass of sand by skill of the field quantity you get a cost termed unfastened bulk density. in case you took this same field and tapped on it lower back and lower back, permitting the sand to settle and p.c.. at the same time, and then calculate the outcomes, you get a cost termed tapped or packed bulk density. Tapped bulk density is often extra desirable than or equivalent to unfastened bulk density. In the two varieties of bulk density, various the quantity is taken up by skill of the areas between the grains of sand.

Answer 10

Try comparing it to a moving car... if the car is going slowly and smoothly, she might understand that she can't detect the motion.

It isn't the same thing, of course, but it will get you passed the issue until she can follow a more complex explanation a little better.

Good luck

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