• Question: Why can't we fell the earth spining?

    Asked by blue13 to Ed, Hayley, Jason, Nathan, Sophie on 14 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Hayley Evers-King

      Hayley Evers-King answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Because it’s always been spinning, the entire time you’ve been alive and the entire time that all the parts of your body have evolved over history. This is what feels ‘normal’. I imagine water doesn’t feel wet to whales in a similar way 🙂

    • Photo: Sophie Holles

      Sophie Holles answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Because the part of your ears (which has evolved from what fish use to detect sound!) that detects motion only actually feels acceleration. The earth is spinning at a constant speed so you can’t tell. After you’ve reached a constant speed in a train, lift or car you can’t feel it either, only when its speeding up, slowing down or going round a corner (which is just acceleration at a different angle).

    • Photo: Jason King

      Jason King answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Movement is all relative. Because everything on the earth is spinning at the same rate, the ground and everything in your room isn’t moving at all relative to you, so you don’t notice. The earth is also circling around the sun at an enormous speed, and the galaxy moving through the universe even faster. But lucky for us, the floor is moving at the same speed and direction as our feet, so we don’t get dizzy and fall over.

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