The Earth is constantly in motion, rotating around its own axis and around the Sun. This causes the origin of various phenomena on its surface: the change of seasons, the alternation of day and night. Favorable conditions for life on Earth are due to this movement and the favorable location of the planet relative to the Sun (about 150 million kilometers away). If the planet were closer, water would evaporate from its surface. If further - all living things would freeze. Important role the atmosphere also plays a role, protecting from harmful cosmic rays.

Let us dwell in more detail on two such constant invisible companions of life as the movement of the Earth around an imaginary line (axis) and the Sun.

The speed of the earth's rotation around its axis

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Along with all the others, it revolves around the Sun, and also has its own rotation around its axis. The fastest planets in the solar system are the giant planets.:

• Jupiter.
• Saturn.

They complete the day in 10 hours.

The rotation of the Earth around its axis takes 23 hours 56 minutes. Plus, an additional 4 minutes are required for the Sun to return to its original position. The speed of rotation on the surface depends on where the motion is observed.

If we talk about the equator, then the rotation of the Earth reaches 1670 kilometers per hour or 465 meters per second. The calculations are carried out taking into account the fact that in the region of the equator the circumference of the planet reaches over 40,000 kilometers. If the planet abruptly stops moving, then people and objects located at the same speed will break away and fly forward.

Closer to the 30th latitude, the rotation of the Earth around its axis decreases to 1440 kilometers per hour, gradually dropping to 0 kilometers per hour at the poles (the rule works both towards the South and North Poles). This movement remains imperceptible to people due to the huge mass of the planet.

From this video you will learn why we do not feel the rotation of the earth.

Significance for humanity

Differences in the speed of movement have their practical significance. Countries prefer to build spaceports closer to the equator. Due to the speed of the planet's rotation, less fuel is required to enter orbit, or it is possible to lift large quantity payload. At the same time, at the start, the rocket already has a speed of 1,675 kilometers per hour, so it is easier for it to accelerate to an orbital speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour.

The moon, by its influence, constantly stabilizes the inclination of the planet's axis. Because of this, the speed of rotation of the planet is gradually decreasing. Twice a year, in November and April, the length of the day increases by 0.001 second.

Time of complete revolution around the sun

The speed of rotation of the Earth around the Sun is about 107,000 kilometers per hour. The planet makes a complete revolution in 365 days, 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds, passing about a billion kilometers during this time. Every year, an extra five hours “run in”, which astronomers add up and add 366 days every four years - such a year is called a leap year.

If you recalculate, it turns out that every second the Earth flies in outer space about 30 kilometers. Even the speed of the world's fastest racing car is only about 300 kilometers per hour - this is 350 times less than the speed of the planet in orbit. Man cannot adequately imagine such enormous speeds.

During rotation, a force arises that could throw a person or object from the surface of the Earth like an object spun on a rope. But this is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, since this force is almost completely suppressed by gravity and is only 0.03% of it.

Like rotation around an axis, this movement gradually slows down into imperceptible ordinary people quantities. Also, the axis in the direction of travel gradually deviates during the year, so that regions alternately change places in which:

• winter summer;
• autumn/spring.

Once people believed that the Earth is a motionless body around which the Sun and all other objects revolve. Long-term observations and improvement of technology made it possible to gradually understand the issue, and now almost all the inhabitants of the planet know how fast the Earth rotates, and that she herself has to work hard, substituting the sides of a huge star to provide day / night and winter / summer.

Video

From this video you will learn how and at what speed the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Since time immemorial, mankind has been interested in the processes that take place in the Universe. Why does the sun rise every morning? What is the Moon? How many stars are in the sky? Does the Earth rotate, and at what speed?
What is the speed of the earth?
People have long observed the change of day to night and the annual sequence of the seasons. What does this mean? Later it was proved that such changes are due to the rotation of our planet around its axis. However, humanity did not come to this knowledge immediately. It took many years to prove the currently obvious facts.
For a long time, people could not realize this phenomenon, because, in their opinion, a person is in the camp of calmness, and it is not visible that any movement passes through him. However, such a statement is not correct. All objects around you (table, computer, window, etc.) are in motion. How can it move? This is due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis. In addition, our planet moves not only around the axis, but also around the celestial body. Moreover, its trajectory is not a circle, but resembles an ellipse.
To demonstrate the features of the movement of a celestial body, they often turn to the Yule. Its movements are very similar to the rotation of the Earth.
Later scientific methods It has been proven that our planet is moving. Thus, the Earth makes one rotation around its axis in a day - twenty-four hours. It is with this that the change of time of day, day to night, is connected.
The mass of the Sun is much greater than the mass of the Earth. The distance between these celestial bodies reaches one hundred and fifty million kilometers. Studies have shown that the speed of rotation of the Earth reaches thirty kilometers per second. A full turnover is completed in one year. In addition, in four years one more day is added, which is why we have leap year.
But humanity did not come to such results immediately. So, even G. Galileo opposed the theory that spoke of the rotation of the planet. He demonstrated this assertion in the following way. The scientist threw a stone from the top of the tower, and it fell at the foot of the building. Galileo noted that the rotation of the Earth would have shifted the place where the stone fell, but modern research completely denies these statements.
Based on the foregoing, it follows that humanity has come a long way to understanding that the Earth is in constant motion around the Sun. First, the planet rotates on its axis. Also, our celestial body moves around the luminary that provides us with heat. This is what causes the change of time of day and seasons.

Like other planets solar system, makes 2 main movements: around its own axis and around the Sun. Since ancient times, it is on these two regular movements that the calculation of time and the ability to draw up calendars have been based.

A day is the time of rotation around its own axis. A year is a revolution around the sun. The division into months is also in direct connection with astronomical phenomena - their duration is associated with the phases of the moon.

Rotation of the Earth around its own axis

Our planet rotates around its own axis from west to east, that is, counterclockwise (when viewed from the side North Pole.) An axis is a virtual straight line that intersects Earth in the region of the North and South Poles, i.e. the poles have a fixed position and do not participate in rotary motion, while all other location points on earth's surface rotate, and the rotation speed is not identical and depends on their position relative to the equator - the closer to the equator, the higher the rotation speed.

For example, in the region of Italy, the rotation speed is approximately 1200 km / h. The consequences of the rotation of the Earth around its axis are the change of day and night and the apparent movement of the celestial sphere.

Indeed, one gets the impression that the stars and others celestial bodies of the night sky move in the opposite direction to our movement with the planet (that is, from east to west).

It seems that the stars are located around the North Star, which is located on an imaginary line - a continuation of the earth's axis in a northerly direction. The movement of the stars is not evidence that the Earth rotates on its axis, because this movement could be a consequence of the rotation of the celestial sphere, if we assume that the planet occupies a fixed, motionless position in space.

Foucault pendulum

Irrefutable proof that the Earth rotates around its own axis was presented in 1851 by Foucault, who conducted the famous pendulum experiment.

Imagine that, being at the North Pole, we set a pendulum in oscillatory motion. The external force acting on the pendulum is gravity, while it does not affect the change in the direction of oscillation. If we prepare a virtual pendulum that leaves tracks on the surface, we can make sure that after a while the tracks move in a clockwise direction.

This rotation can be associated with two factors: either with the rotation of the plane on which the pendulum oscillates, or with the rotation of the entire surface.

The first hypothesis can be rejected, taking into account that there are no forces on the pendulum that can change the plane oscillatory movements. It follows from this that it is the Earth that rotates, and it makes movements around its own axis. This experiment was carried out in Paris by Foucault, he used a huge pendulum in the form of a bronze sphere weighing about 30 kg, suspended from a 67-meter cable. The starting point of oscillatory movements was fixed on the surface of the floor of the Pantheon.

So, it is the Earth that rotates, and not the celestial sphere. People observing the sky from our planet fix the movement of both the Sun and the planets, i.e. All objects in the universe are in motion.

Time criterion - day

A day is the length of time it takes for the Earth to complete one rotation around its own axis. There are two definitions of the term “day”. A "solar day" is the time interval of the Earth's rotation, in which . Another concept - "sidereal day" - implies a different starting point - any star. The duration of the two types of day is not identical. The longitude of a sidereal day is 23 h 56 min 4 s, while the longitude of the solar day is 24 hours.

The different duration is due to the fact that the Earth, rotating around its own axis, also performs an orbital rotation around the Sun.

In principle, the duration of a solar day (although it is taken as 24 hours) is a variable value. This is due to the fact that the movement of the Earth in its orbit occurs at a variable speed. When the Earth is closer to the Sun, the speed of its movement in orbit is higher, as it moves away from the sun, the speed decreases. In this regard, such a concept as “average solar day”, namely their duration is 24 hours.

Circulation around the Sun at a speed of 107,000 km / h

The speed of the Earth around the Sun is the second main movement of our planet. The earth moves in an elliptical orbit, i.e. the orbit is elliptical. When it is in close proximity to the Earth and falls into its shadow, eclipses occur. The average distance between the Earth and the Sun is approximately 150 million kilometers. Astronomy uses a unit to measure distances within the solar system; it is called the “astronomical unit” (AU).

The speed at which the Earth moves in its orbit is approximately 107,000 km/h.
The angle formed by the earth's axis and the plane of the ellipse is approximately 66 ° 33 ', this is a constant value.

If you observe the Sun from the Earth, it seems that it is it that moves across the sky during the year, passing through the stars and that make up the Zodiac. In fact, the Sun also passes through the constellation Ophiuchus, but it does not belong to the Zodiac circle.

Scientists have come to the following conclusions- the speed of rotation of the earth decreases. This leads to the following consequences - the day lengthens. If you do not go into details, then in the northern hemisphere the bright part of the day becomes somewhat longer than in winter. But this interpretation is only suitable for the uninitiated. Geophysicists come to deeper conclusions - the days increase their time frames not only in the spring. The reason for the lengthening of the day lies primarily in the influence of the moon.

The force of attraction of the natural satellite of the earth is so great that it causes excitement in the oceans, causing them to sway. At the same time, the earth acts by analogy with the figure skaters, who, in order to slow down the rotation during the execution of their programs, put out their hands. It is because of this that after some time in an ordinary earthly day there will be one hour more than we are used to. One astronomer from the UK came to the conclusion that since 700 BC there has been a continuous slowdown in the rotation of the Earth around its axis. He calculated the speed of rotation of the Earth, based on data that have survived since those times - clay tablets and historical evidence that describes lunar and solar eclipses. Based on them, the scientist calculated the position of the Sun and was able to determine what braking distance our planet was doing relative to its star. For 530 million years, the Earth's rotation rate was much slower, and there were only 21 hours in a day.

And the dinosaurs that inhabited the expanses of our planet a hundred million years ago already lived at 23 hours a day. This can be determined by examining the calcareous deposits that the corals left behind. Their thickness depends on what season is present on the planet. On this basis, it is possible to determine quite accurately - in what interval were the springs from each other. And this duration is reduced throughout the entire existence of our planet. Half a million years ago, our planet was moving around the axis faster, while the movement around the star remains constant. This means that the year for all these millions of years has remained the same, it has the same number of hours. But this year there were not 365 days, as today, but 420. After the emergence of mankind, this trend did not cease to exist. The speed of the Earth's rotation around its axis is constantly slowing down. The Journal for the History of Astronomy published an article on this phenomenon in 2008.

Stephenson, who works at the University of Durham (Great Britain), in order to be completely sure and confirm the hypothesis, analyzed hundreds of eclipses that have occurred over the past 2.7 thousand years. In the clay tablets of ancient Babylon, all celestial phenomena recorded in cuneiform are described in great detail. Scientists noted both the time of the event and its exact date. Another feature - a total solar eclipse on Earth is observed not so often, only once every 300 years. At this moment, the Sun is completely hidden behind the Earth and complete darkness descends on it for several minutes. Very often, ancient scientists described both the beginning of an eclipse and its end with great accuracy. And these data were used by a modern astronomer in order to determine the position of our star relative to the Earth.

The recalculation of the dates of the Babylonian calendar took place according to specially compiled tables, which facilitated the work. It is these data that allow astronomers to determine with great accuracy. How did the deceleration of the Earth occur? Correct data on its position relative to the Sun, allow you to determine its position at the moment when it passes by the Sun. The trajectory of the planet around the Sun depends on the movement around its own axis. Terrestrial time, which is derived from this dependence, is an independent quantity. This universal time is a generally accepted indicator, which is calculated based on how the earth rotates on its axis and in what position it is relative to the sun. This universal time is constantly shifting back, since every year one more second is added to the year, which is caused, precisely, by the process of Earth's deceleration. And as it turned out, the difference between terrestrial and universal time is getting bigger, depending on how long ago the solar eclipse happened. This can only mean one thing - every millennium adds as much as 0.002 seconds to the day. These data are also confirmed by changes carried out from satellite laboratories launched into earth's orbit.

The deceleration rate is fully consistent with the calculations made by a scientist from the UK. And at the time when the flourishing of the civilization of Babylon was observed, the day on earth lasted somewhat less, the difference with modern times was 0.04 seconds. And this meager deviation was calculated by Stephenson due to the fact that he was able to compare universal time and evaluate the errors accumulated in it. Since about a million days have passed from the year 700 to the present day, we could translate our electronic clocks by 7 hours, so much time was added to the time of the Earth's rotation around its axis.

Recent years have become an exception for the Earth, during this time there is practically no lengthening of the day and the Earth continues to move at a constant speed. The masses inside the earth may have begun to compensate for the fluctuations caused by the influence magnetic field Moon. And the acceleration of the planet's movement could be caused, for example, by the earthquake in Argentina in 2004, after which the day was shortened by 8 millionths of a second. The shortest day in history was recorded in 2003, when they did not even have 24 hours (1,005 seconds were not enough). The international service that studies the rotation of the Earth and geophysicists are closely watching the problem of slowing down the speed of the earth's rotation and the processes that affect its movement. After all, this will provide answers to many global questions related to the structure of the planet and the processes that occur in deep structures - the mantle and the core. What covers research and scientific activity seismologists and geophysicists.

The earth is constantly in motion: it rotates around its axis and around the sun. It is thanks to this that on Earth there is a change of day and night, as well as a change of seasons. Let's talk in more detail about how fast the Earth moves around its axis and what is the speed of the Earth around the Sun.

At what speed does the earth rotate?

In 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds, our planet makes a complete revolution around its axis, so this rotation is called daily. Everyone knows that during a given period of time on Earth, day has time to change into night.

At the equator, the highest rotation speed is 1670 km / h. But this speed cannot be called constant, since it varies in different places on the planet. For example, the lowest speed is at the North and South Poles - it can drop to zero.

The speed of rotation of the Earth around the Sun is approximately 108,000 km / h or 30 km / s. In orbit around the Sun, our planet overcomes 150 ml. km. Our planet makes a complete revolution around the star in 365 days, 5 hours, 48 ​​minutes, 46 seconds, so every fourth year is a leap year, that is, one day longer.

The speed of the Earth is considered a relative value: it can only be calculated relative to the Sun, its own axis, milky way. It is unstable and tends to change in relation to another space object.

An interesting fact is that the duration of the day in April and November differs from the standard ones by 0.001 s.