What direction does the earth rotate in it's axis c/w or cc/w?

Question

And what direction does the earth revolve around the sun?
And what causes this rotations.

Answer 1

As others have said, if you look down on the North pole, the earth spins counter-clockwaise. If you look down on the south pole, it turns clockwise. If you look at a globe, the Antlantic ocean would pass by you first, then the Americas, then the Pacific ocea, then Asia, then Africa and Europe.

As for the direction around the sun: again, if you look down from the north pole of the earth (which is 23 degrees off the direction stright up from the orbit), the earth would go around the sun in a counter-clockwise direction. If you look down from the south pole, it would be clockwise.

The rotation got started because of conservation of angular momentum from the original cloud of dust and gasses that formed the planet. It keeps going because there isn't enough friction to stop it. There has been enough to slow it down slightly. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the earth spun slightly faster and we had over 400 days in a year.

Answer 2

1. Earth rotates from west to east. Viewed from above the North Pole, the direction of Earth’s rotation is Counterclockwise.

2. It all depends on where you live. I live in America, therefore the Earth revolves around the Sun in a counter-clockwise position. If you live in Europe though, that is the opposite.

3. What causes the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, are the laws of gravity. It's not so much of "how," it rotates, it's more on the order of "what causes it to," rotate.
I'll explain.
For example, if I tip a spoon off a table, why does it fall?
You would not answer that the laws of gravity made it fall, it's because YOU made it fall. You pushed it off, therefore, it fell.
The cause was you, which made it rotate. The laws of gravity just took effect when you made the motion.
Some external cause, whether it'd be a meteor, or an asteroid, knocked the Earth into orbit with the Sun...some people think that the Big Bang was the original reason why planets spun and rotated.
But, of course, it's the laws of gravity that keep it in such a perfect orbit...and what causes those...nobody knows. That's just how it is.

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

As Einstein would put it..."it's all relative." It all depends on were you are in space. If viewing the South Pole from space, then the Earth would be spinning clockwise. If viewing from the North Pole, then counter-clockwise. Same goes with viewing the Earth orbiting the sun.
So why all the rotations? Current theory is when the gases and particles in the early universe clumped together while spinning around in the whirlwind of the big bang. The spinning still persists today. Interesting too is that atoms have a spinning nature as well, with their electrons spinning around protons.

Answer 4

The direction of rotation around the axis and "translation" around the sun is the same.
If you were to imagine yourself over the north pole looking down on Earth, it would appear to rotate counter-clockwise. Go up higher, so you can look down on the orbit of Earth around the Sun: also counter-clockwise.

All major planets are orbiting in the same direction as us.
All major planets (except 2) are rotating in the same direction as their translation; this is called "prograde" rotation.

The two exceptions (with "retrograde" rotations) are Venus and Uranus.

For translations, it is relatively easy to explain: the original could of dust that condensed to form the solar system was spinning in that direction, causing it to collapse into a disk. This explains that the Sun is rotating on its axis in the same direction as the translations of the planets. It also explains why the orbits of all major planets are pretty well on the same plane.

As for the planets' rotation, it gets a bit more complicated. They all began with prograde rotation but, with time, different effects caused changes (sometimes random).

For example, it is possible that the present speed and direction of Earth's rotation is the result of an off-centre collision with a very big body: the one that created the Moon by lifting part of Earth's crust into space.

Mercury's and Venus's can be explained by tidal effects from the Sun.

Jupiter and Saturn are so big that they probably are still going on the initial rotational energy they got when they formed.

After that, it gets very complicated.


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Another way to look at things:

As long as you are not at a pole, when you face East, you are facing in the direction of rotation (this is true wherever you are on Earth, North or South latitude -- as long as you are not at the poles, where there is no East).

If you stand up at sunrise (in the tropics, if you want to be a bit more accurate), then the direction of translation -- orbital motion around the sun -- is "head first". At sunset, you are going feet first.

At midnight, both motions are added: you are going eastward with rotation and eastward with translation.

Answer 5

The Earth rotates around it's axis, and the direction of rotation depends on where you are looking at the Earth from, North you are rotating C/W, from the South CC/W.
The Earth and all the planets revolve around the Sun direction also depends on where how you are looking at it, from above, or below the orbit?
If you are above the prbit CC/W, but looking from below the orbit, C/W.

Answer 6

It all boils down to your frame of reference. To paraphrase a bit of dialogue in the book "Ender's Game", there's no "up" or "down" in space. Typically, the Earth is depicted [on maps or globes or charts, etc] with the North Pole being "up" or at the "top". If looked at from over the equator, with North being "up", the Earth will rotate from left to right. If you're above the North Pole, it would seem to be spinning counter-clockwise; clockwise if you're over the South Pole. So, it's all just a matter of perspective. There is no correct and only way to view the Earth. It's all relative.

Answer 7

interestingly enough, clockwise is based on the rotation of the earth.
The clock was invented in the northern hemisphere, and time increments are based on the rotational arc segments of the spinning earth. So a clock is actually a model of the spinning earth looking from the northern hemisphere down.
Does that help you?

Answer 8

Clockwise and counter-clockwise are arbitrary.

If you view the Earth from above the north pole, it will appear to be spinning counter-clockwise. If you view the Earth from above the south pole, it will appear to be spinning clockwise. It is the same motion in either case, only the perspective is different.

In short, clockwise is the same as counter-clockwise, just from a different perspective.

Answer 9

both question have the same answer..
its a point of view...
like your wheels on the car.. on the one side its going cc/w and c/w on the other

Answer 10

think about where you live. look up in to the sky and follow the suns path. it goes from the east coast to the west coast for me so looking at the world i see it moving counter clock wise.