This might sound stupid, but if the earth spins at 1000mph, how come we don't feel it?

Question

I know it has something to do with gravity, but if someone could explain I would be very grateful. Thanks

Answer 1

Your reference point is the earth's surface and you're stuck on by gravity. As long as the earth rotates at a steady speed, you don't notice it. If it suddenly sped up or slowed down you would.

Answer 2

This is a simple question of relativity. Although there is more too it, look at this example...
Lets say person A is sitting on a bench and person B is riding in a car going 40 miles per hour. If the car is going a constant speed of 40 miles per hour and its not moving vertically or horizontally, person B should feel the exact same way as person A. This is because person A is moving zero miles an hour and the bench is moving zero miles an hour, and person B is moving 40 mph and the car is moving 40 mph. They feel as if nothing has actually changed, when, in fact, there is a change.
In the same way, when you stand on the earth, you're going 1000 mph, but so is the earth, so you don't notice it.

Answer 3

When a train is travelling at a constant speed for a long period of time, we tend not to feel it too right? Thats because we've acquired the same speed of the train. But if the train increases speed or slows down, then we would feel it. Same goes for the earth spinning. We have acquired the speed of the spin. Thats why we cant feel it. Gravity ensures that we're not thrown into outer space. Gravity keeps us on the surface of the earth while we're "spinning" along with the earth.

Answer 4

What do you think it would feel like? You're probably imagining wind rushing past your face, like sticking your head out of a window of a speeding car, right?

Well, the earth carries it's atmosphere with it at all times. It's not like, the solid parts of the earth are moving and the air isn't. Air has mass too, and so is also bound by earth gravity.
It rides right along with us.

But I suppose if you were somehow able to visit the ionosphere of the earth, where the sky meets space, you'd find it a very fierce, howling, fiery, wind-rushing-past-your-face environment.

Does that make the concept more sensible for you? Don't try it at home, by the way!

Answer 5

Actually, a very good question. The answer is simple - because you and the air around you are spinning at the same exact speed.

Not all air spins at the same speed. At higher altitudes, the air tends to not spin as fast as the earth (think of this as the earth spinning inside it's envelope of air). At higher altitudes this is what creates the "jet stream" -- currents of 100-200mph air winds that "blow" from west to east. This is why it takes ~5 hours for a jet to go from San Francisco to New York, but about 6 hours in the opposites direction -- it has to go against the jet stream.

Answer 6

The mass of the Earth is great enough to keep us all pulling toward the centre of the Earth - it pulls us down toward the most dense part - the core. However, gravity is not as strong as is should be. If you consider the mass of the Earth, in theory, you should not be able to pick a paper clip up off the floor - and yet you can. It doesn't make sense. The mass of the Earth is so great that the paper clip should actually stay stuck to the floor and you, with your muscles as they are, shouldn't be able to pick it up - yet it is easy. Does gravity actually come from another dimension?

Answer 7

We don't fel it because we are protected by the bubble of our atmosphere which travels at the same speed as the planet. When space vehicles come through into the atmosphere and they get really hot, that is the reaction to the difference in speed between the inside and the outside of the bubble.
It is not a stupid question at all either.

Answer 8

We don't experience the earth's movement as movement because we and everything else in our frame of reference is moving in the same direction at the same time.

Actually you can prove that the earth is moving with a pendulum. There used to be one in the science museum in London. If it is still there you will be able to see that its angle of swing changes with time. This is because it is swinging in the same direction relative to the earth's core but the surface of the is moving.

If the pendulum was at a pole its swing would pass through 360 degrees in 24 hours.

Answer 9

For the same reason we do not feel a force when you travel in a car at 60 MPH on a smooth road or when you are traveling at 500 MPH in an airline. You as well as the earth are traveling at the same speed. You and the vehicle have the same frame of reference and there are no forces acting on you.

When the vehicle slows or speeds up or turns, you do feel that change in speed.

Answer 10

Physics:
Everything around you is moving at the same speed.

Perception:
You are use to it and have no refrences. For instance,if you are in a car and going 70 mph and looking out the front window you might think you are going slow, but if you look out the side window, you may see everything as a blur. The stars (including our sun) and moon are so far away, they look like they are moving slowly across the sky.