Why don't we feel the Earth spinning?

Answer 1

Because we're spinning at the exact same speed as the Earth. Therefore, it seems like we're not moving at all.

People who say that we can't feel it because it's "slow" are being kind of silly. I mean, the earth makes one full rotation every 24 hours. That means that a point at the equator will travel 24,901.46 miles (the circumference of the earth) every 24 hours, which is more than 1000 miles an hour. It's just that your body is also traveling at a constant 1000 miles an hour, so it feels like you're standing still.

Answer 2

Its because the Earth is so large compared to us (and the motion is relatively smooth to us) that we don't feel it.

However, you can actually "feel" the Earth spinning (it does take a bit of concentration).
The way to do it is on a dark night, away from city lights.
Lie down very still, and position yourself so a bright star is near a tree limb or something that doesn't move. If you stay still then you can actually see the star move in the sky (that's the Earth rotating).
I've done it a couple of times, and you can almost get a sense of vertigo (like looking down from a real high place) for a moment.

Answer 3

We would if it accelerated or decellerated but the spin is constant. Also the atmosphere spins with the planet so we don't notice because to us the air is still and so is the ground. If you were driving a car on a veerrry smooth road that was silent and you had your eyes closed could you tell you were moving?

Answer 4

We don't feel the Earth spinning because the speed of the rotation is constant (strictly speaking, the Earth's revolution speed is being slowed down by the moon, but its minute enough to be regarded as zero), therefore the acceleration is zero and nothing is felt. Just like when your on an airplane,at the beginning when the speed is low but the acceleration is high, but when its at cruising speed, it travels at a constant velocity and you can't feel the speed you are flying at.

Answer 5

we're spinning with it. why don't we feel the universe pulling apart? anyways it spins very slow. try spinning a standard globe in 24 hours. it would move like 1 mm a secongd

Answer 6

Because we are spinning at the same rate as the earth.

Answer 7

The part of our body that "feels" acceleration is called the vestibular
system of the inner ear - which is basically a u-shaped tube that is
partially filled with fluid. By measuring movements of this fluid, your
body can detect very small accelerations.


Dizziness results from activities that cause you to experience
accelerations at lots of different angles. On a roller-coaster, for
example, you experience accelerations in one direction and then another in
quick succession. This causes the vestibular to fail to "reset" itself
correctly, which causes it to become confused, and dizziness results. You
can also experience dizziness by being exposed to no forces at all - like
if you jump off a bridge or if you are in space. This is because the
vestibular system requires at least some force to be present in order to
function.

However, when you are standing still on earth (i.e. not on a
roller-coaster), you only feel a constant force pulling you downward (i.e.
gravity). Thus you are only experiencing acceleration in one constant
direction, and you don't get dizzy.

One would think that while standing on a spinning earth, you would feel
lots of different angles of acceleration. But this is not the case. The
fact that the earth spins results in another force called the centrifugal
force, which points in the direction away from the earth's axis of
rotation. It is greatest the farther you are away from the rotation axis
(i.e. at the equator), and non-existent at the north and south poles.
However, even at the equator, this force is very tiny (only 0.3% of the
gravitational force) - so you don't notice it at all. The reason it is so
small is simply that the earth doesn't rotate fast enough.

Now let's say that we had the power to speed up the earth's rotation.
Then, the centrifugal force would become quite large. Let's say, for the
sake of argument, that the earth was spinning so fast that the centrifugal
force became 50% of the gravitational force at the equator. If you do the
calculations you will find that the earth is now spinning 13 times faster
and the day lasts for about 1.8 hours rather than the usual 24. Then, at
the equator, you would weigh 50% what you do now - so you could jump very
far! But the direction the force you feel is still directly downward and
is constant, so you will not become dizzy (unless perhaps if you try to do
a long-jump).

Interestingly, if you were in the northern hemisphere (say in the US), the
direction of the "apparent" force of gravity would not be simply
downward-pointing, but it would have a sideways component as well. This is
because the centrifugal force is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of
the earth, not the ground. Thus, gravity would appear to point
significantly tilted toward the equator and you would have to tilt yourself
toward the north in order to avoid falling over! You would then have to
walk around this way, always tilted to the north! But you still wouldn't
"feel" the motion of the earth or feel dizzy since the direction of this
force is constant.

Now let's say we speed up the earth's rotation even more - to about 18
times faster than normal. Now the day is about 1.3 hours long. Under
these conditions, there will not be any downward force at the equator at
all because the centrifugal force will be large enough to completely cancel
out gravity. Thus you would be floating like an astronaut at the equator.
In these zero-g conditions, you become terribly dizzy. Astronauts have a
terrible time with this and usually have to take drugs (like scopolamine)
and do a lot of practice in these conditions in order to avoid constant
dizziness and nausea while in space.

If we speeded up the earth's rotation even more, you would have to hang on
to the earth in order to avoid being sucked out into space! So under these
conditions, you would definitely "feel" the earth's rotation - even though
the forces are always constant and pointing in the same direction (away
from the earth's surface). Of course the earth would disintegrate under
these conditions - so this is completely fictitious.

So the main reason we don't notice the effects of the rotating earth is
that it is not rotating fast enough.

Answer 8

Because we're moving at the same rate that it is.

Doug

Answer 9

Quit a few of us elightened ones actually do feel the spinning.

Answer 10

Gravity?