Earth & its MOTIONS

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Earth:
Name originates from "Die Erde," the German word for "the
ground"

The third planet from the sun

fifth largest of the planets in the solar system

Earth is really an "oblate spheroid,“ because its spin causes it

to be squashed at its poles and swollen at the equator.

Earth rotates on its axis from west to east.

Tilted on its axis by 23 ½ degree

The Earth has two types of
motions:

Rotation: It is the
movement/spin of the earth on
its axis.

Revolution: Movement of the

earth around the sun in a fixed
path or orbit is called
Revolution.
Rotation: Earth rotates on its axis from west to east. It takes
Earth 23 hours 56 minutes 4 sec to complete a rotation on its
axis.
Speed of rotation of the earth is not constant
throughout latitudes.

It differs at different latitudes.

For instance, at the equator, the rotational velocity

is high whereas it keeps on reducing while going
towards the poles.
Impact of Earth’s Rotation

Rotation of the earth causes the phenomenon of days and

nights. The area of the earth facing the sun experiences
daylight and the other experiencing the night.
Tide

It is a natural phenomenon that is produced by the

gravitational pull of both the sun and moon over
the earth along with the rotation of the earth.

This causes the alternate rise and fall of the ocean

water which is known as a tide.
Magnetism of the Earth

Rotation of the earth is also one of the factors that hold

magnetism of our planet. Thus by acting as a large
magnet, it creates conditions necessary for the survival of
the living beings over the earth.
Coriolis Force

Coriolis force is the force that is responsible for deflection

of the winds and current in the northern and the southern
hemispheres. It is also known as the impact of Ferrel’s law.
According to Ferrel’s law, any moving fluid turns right in the
northern hemisphere while in the southern hemisphere it
turns left.

This Coriolis force that causes the deflection in Northern

and Southern hemispheres is generated due to the
movement of the earth on its axis, i.e rotation.
Earth spins on its axis once in every 24-hour day. At Earth’s
equator, the speed of Earth’s spin is about 1,600 km per
hour But we don’t feel Earth spinning.

It’s because we and everything else – including Earth’s

oceans and atmosphere – are spinning along with the
Earth at the same constant speed.

Earth is moving at a fixed rate, and

we’re all moving along with it, and
that’s why we don’t feel Earth’s spin.
If Earth’s spin were suddenly to
speed up or slow down, you would
definitely feel it.
The surface velocity of rotation varies from point to
point on the Earth. It is about 1600 km per hour or
about 460 meters in a second near the equator.

The velocity gradually reduces as we move to the

poles and it is practically zero there.

A satellite launched from the sites near the equator

towards the east direction will get an initial boost equal to
the velocity of Earth surface.

The initial boost helps in cutting

down the cost of rockets used to
launch the satellites.
This is the major reason for launching satellites in the east
ward direction.

But this benefit can be taken only for such satellites which
are placed in geo-stationary orbit or which circle the Earth
parallel to the equator. Such satellites are usually
communication satellites or satellites used for scientific
research such as ISS.
Another characteristic of launching satellites is
that the launching stations are generally
located near eastern coast line so that, just
in case of failure of the launch, the satellite
does not fall on built-up hinterland.
Revolution:

It is the movement of the earth around

the sun in a fixed path or orbit

Earth goes around the sun at a brisk

107,000 kilometers per hour

It takes Earth 365.26 days to complete

an orbit(revolution) around the sun.
The distance between Earth and Sun changes: This is because the Earth travels
on a elliptical orbit/ path around the Sun.

The distance between the two

ranges from 147 (perihelion)
to 152 (aphelion) million km.
 / 21

Equinox: 21 March and 23 September

Summer solstice in N. Hemisphere: 21 June
Winter solstice in N. Hemisphere: 22 December
Next Lecture:

Solar Eclipse

Lunar Eclipse

Next to Next Lecture:

Tides