does gravity work in all directions? is it what stops us feeling the earth spinning around.?

Question

if the earth is spinning, shouldnt we feel the centrifugal force.
at the equator, the centrifugal force would act in the opposite direction to the centrifugal force, so you wouldnt feel it there, but what about, say,the north pole.

i understand that we wouldnt feel any force if the earth was moving in a straight line at a constant speed, but when something moves in a circular way there is always a force

Answer 1

1. centrifugal force is an imaginary force in this case. its not real.

2. the reason why we dont feel the earth spinning is because it's not spinning fast enough, and the radius of the earth is big enough. the curvature of the earth relative to humans is basically flat, so we dont notice any rotational forces.

3. there IS a detectable force due to the earths spin, we are just not sensitive enough to pick it up. devices such as a pendulum, or a gyroscope IS affected by earths spin.

edit: the speed at the equator due to the rotation of the earth is approximately 1000miles/hour

assuming the circumference at the equator is about 24,000 miles, you travel that much in 24 hours, thus your average speed is 1000 miles per hour.

using your formula, 1600^2/6400 = 400 km/hour
and again, the reason why we dont feel this is because there is gravity, and the curvature of the surface of the earth to us is flat.

Answer 2

The centrifugal force is very small compared to gravity in the first place. Also, the extra girth to the earth around the equator due to the spinning adds a extra bit of gravity at the equator, where the centrifugal force is greatest, to roughly offset the difference.

Answer 3

I think you have confused yourself with different motions. The earth is rotating around its axis that causes day and nights. It also gives rise to centifugal force which you have rightly assumed is balanced by the gravitational force of the earth and that is why we are not thrown off. The gravitational force is directed towards the centre of the earth and is experienced every where on the surface of the globe including the north pole. Actually the gravitational pull is more than the centrifugal force, that is why even flying air crafts fall down on earth when their engines stop working.
As we go away from the centre of the earth towards space, say towards moon, the pull of the gravitation is weakened as per the inverse square law. That is why the men in space crafts experience less pull or become weight less.
The movement of the earth around the sun which gives rise to change of seasons, is not experienced by us, because we are stuck to the surface of the earth due to gravity. It is just like a man in an aeroplane who can not find out with what speed he is moving, relative to the plane.

Answer 4

Gravity does not derive from the spinning of the Earth. Earth's spinning is only the effects of conservation of angular momentum. The stuff it grew to become into created from wasn't all vacationing interior the comparable course while the pileup befell that made our Earth and Moon. when you consider that there's no mechanism to end the Earth's rotation that could enable us to stay, we would comprehend it on the instant (if quickly) while it handed off. the two the oceans or the air could proceed attempting to pass at ~1000mph, or the vast impactor that happens to cancel our Earths rotation could sling the outer crust of the Earth into area for slightly.

Answer 5

There is a centrifugal force, but it is very small compared to the force of gravity. The acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s^2, but the acceleration due to the earth's spin at the equator is only .0338 m/s^2.

Here is how you calculate it:

a = v^2/r

The speed of a point on the surface of the Earth at the equator is about 1670 km/hr or 464 m/s.

The radius of the Earth at the equator is about 6378 km, so

a = (464)(464)/6378000 = .0338 m/s^2