would we know if the earth was spinning quicker?

Question

i know it seems like a stupid question but, time seems to be going by very quickly. A few years ago i would say to someone that the week has gone by so quick and they would say that time was dragging for them, but now everyone i talk to says that time is flying by. no-one thinks its dragging.

Answer 1

Actually the earth's rotation is very slowly decreasing. It has something to do with the moon's gravitational pull slowing down the motion. Eons ago we actually had 23 hour days and as time goes on we will progress toward 25hrs.

Answer 2

The earth actually rotated quicker in the past and the moon was much closer to the earth. Imagine the moonrise by our distant relatives!
Due to the angular momentum of the earth-moon system, the moon is receding from us and the earth's rotation is slowing down. The days are getting longer but very gradually over a long period of time.

Answer 3

No, the Earth cannot spin faster. It has been spinning slower in slower in the past 3 billion years since the creation of our moon...the days were 6 hours long when (this is the most prominent theory on the creation of the moon) we were struck by a planetoid a little smaller than Mars...the rock that was spewed into orbit formed our moon

Answer 4

It is practically impossible for the earth to spin quicker than it is currently. If it did happen though, time would change. I don't think that we can know if the earth is moving quicker unless we were all NASA scientists and we figured it out. We can't feel the Earth moving now....so more likely if the earth was moving a little quicker...we most liekly wouldnt feel it!

hope this helps =]

Answer 5

Astronomers make accurate measurements of the passage of stars across the "local meridian" (north-south line). The device used is called a "transit circle" - you can see one at Greenwich for example. The interval between successive passages of the same star is the time for one rotation of the earth. Times are measured against atomic clocks. So yes, we know very accurately the slight changes in the earth's spin.

Answer 6

We would know the earth was spinning quicker because both day and night would be shorter in time and our clocks would be out of sync with class schedules and work schedules. Would we get the same pay for a forty hour work week?

Answer 7

Oh yes. The days would pass more quickly, and we would still be tired in the morning, as the nights would not be so long, either.

Faster spinning earth means that time passes more quickly.

Answer 8

Well the days would become shorter, but let's say there was no way we could use the sky to prove it.

There are still other methods to sense this. If your frame of reference is not inertial (the rotating earth for example) then you will see acceleration terms that seem to be like forces in your rotating earth frame of reference.

You will have the centripital and coriolis accelerations and the acceleration due to angular acceleration of your reference frame. There are ways to measure these accelerations above and beyond the acceleration you would expect from gravity.

Answer 9

there would be more 'days' in the solar year and also a mass at the equator would weigh less than it does now due to the increase in the centripetal force required to keep it moving in a circular path (delta 'g' =v^2/r). Modern atomic clocks keep time independently of the rate of rotation of the earth. When v^2>u*g*r where u=coeff of friction, yes we would be in danger of losing our footing and slipping off!

Answer 10

Shorter Days..