As we know, the Earth is always moving. As it revolves around the Sun, the Earth also rotates on its axis.What is the approximate speed of the Earth as it moves? How fast is this Blue Planet rotating on its axis and how fast is it orbiting the Sun? Earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours to be exact 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds. Its circumference is 40,070 kilometers.
So if you divide the distance using the Earth's rotational time , it means the planet is rotating at 1,670 kilometers per hour. That's a lot faster than the world's top speed racing cars. Quoting from Ask an Astronomer , a blog run by astronomers at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, United States. Explains that the speed of the Earth orbiting the Sun is about 110,000 kilometers per hour.
That is, that speed exceeds the maximum speed of even the most advanced jet aircraft.
Scientists calculate that speed by calculating the distance the Earth travels around the Sun and then dividing by the length of time the Earth completes one orbit, which is one year or 365 days. How to calculate the distance of the Earth around the Sun? Scientists determine the length of the circumference of the circle the Earth takes in revolving around the Sun. So far it has been known that the Earth is on average about 149.6 million kilometers from the Sun.
It is also known that the Earth moves in a path that is not circular, but elliptical, so there is an aphelion event . To make this calculation simpler, the way to do this is by assuming it is a circle and then calculating the circumference of the circle with the Earth's distance to the Sun as the radius of this circle.
Why Don't We Feel It?
"Even though everything is in constant motion, living organisms on Earth's surface don't feel it for the same reasons passengers on a plane don't feel themselves floating through the air at hundreds of miles per hour," Mack said.
When the plane takes off, passengers will feel a change in the acceleration of the plane as it moves over the runway.
The feeling of movement is caused by the speed of the aircraft which changes rapidly from being stationary. But when the aircraft is already at cruising altitude, passengers will not feel the speed of hundreds of miles per hour because the speed does not change.
The same is true of Earth moving very fast, but we don't feel it at all. This is because the Earth is moving at a constant speed.
However, what happens if the Earth's speed suddenly changes or moves in a reverse direction? It is very possible that we can all be tossed around like a jaggery. Interesting right?