The Mystery of Earth's Rotation & Revolution

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the mechanisms behind Earth's rotation on its axis and its revolution around the Sun. Participants explore various theories, including the initial conditions of the solar system and the effects of tidal forces, while questioning the implications of these motions on time measurement and planetary dynamics.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that Earth's rotation is a result of initial conditions from a rotating gas cloud, with inertia maintaining the motion.
  • Others argue that gravitational forces are not caused by Earth's rotation and would exist independently of it.
  • A participant suggests that the right-hand rule of magnetic fields could explain early rotational dynamics in a primordial plasma cloud.
  • Questions arise regarding the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth and what factors contributed to this state, including tidal effects.
  • Some participants discuss the implications of tidal forces on Earth's rotation, suggesting that it may eventually lead to tidal locking with the Moon.
  • There is a debate about whether the length of days will increase while years decrease, with some participants correcting misconceptions about the relationship between day length and year duration.
  • Concerns are raised about conflating angular momentum with energy in the context of the Earth-Moon system and the long-term effects of tidal friction.
  • Participants express curiosity about historical measurements of Earth's rotation and how they relate to current understandings of angular momentum transfer.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express multiple competing views on the mechanisms of Earth's rotation and revolution, with no consensus reached on several points, particularly regarding the implications of tidal effects and the future dynamics of the Earth-Moon system.

Contextual Notes

Some statements rely on assumptions about initial conditions and the nature of gravitational forces, while the discussion includes unresolved questions about the long-term effects of tidal interactions and angular momentum conservation.

  • #31
Shooting star said:
You have said that the gravitational force of the Earth is caused by the Earth's rotation, which is not correct. The gravitational of the Earth will be there even if the Earth is not rotating.

Notice that all the planets revolve around the Sun in the same direction, indicating the common origin of all the planets from a rotating gas cloud, as has been pointed out in the previous post.

They all revolve the same direction, but they all don't rotate the same.
 
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  • #32
rewebster said:
They all revolve the same direction, but they all don't rotate the same.

Actually, Venus move around the sun in retrograde motion.
 
  • #33
rewebster said:
They all revolve the same direction, but they all don't rotate the same.

Sure! there must have been lots of impacts that have changed the rotation axes of planets. As I remember, Uranus has the rotation axis on the plane of its revolving around the Sun.
 
  • #34
gdpudasaini said:
Earth is rotating because the Earth was formed out of rotating cloud of gas before 5 billion years

this theory is known as the nebular hypothesis ; it was first put forward in substantial detail by the german philosopher immanuel kant in 1755 .

quote : “In the current notion … space is completely empty , or at least as good as empty ; thus [space] must have been … filled with sufficient capable [reads rotating] matter [before] to transfer the movement on all heavenly bodies found [in space] … and after the attraction had cleaned the said space and had gathered all extended matter in specific chunks [reads formation of planets] : thus the planets had from then on to continue their circling with the once expressed movement [my emphasis] in a space without friction free and unchanged .” (Kant's 1755 article available at www.mala.bc.ca)

comment : without taking anything away from this achievement , kant’s way of thinking suffers from metaphysical underpinnings prevalent in his day ; a process is understood by identifying a primordial origin which is then understood to explain the whole process , rather than studying the process in the entirety of its determinations (oops , old word) ;

example to clarify comment : if I throw a rubber ball against an outside wall , it jumps back at me without me thinking that at the moment of contact both the rubberball and the wall gave way ; it bounces back behind me and I leave it , months later I pick it up in the long grass and notice that the rubber ball , having been exposed to the sun’s heat has cracks in it ; it is somehow difficult for me to see that these cracks were already beginning to form that first time I threw the shiny ball against the wall ;

comment 2 : kants notion of space as empty , or as good as empty , and of movement in a space without friction can be concretised in the light of the work of Planck and Einstein ;

comment 3 : as a starting point : try an imagine that the planets on the one hand do not circle the sun on the other extreme , but rather , in the light of the material properties of the sun’s particles & waves being right around is , that the planets are circling inside the sun ; this not the way I would put it ,but , as starting point : try and imagine that we are still inside a rotating gas cloud

question : it has been said in the discussion here that the Earth is getting heavier because of its relation to the sun ; I would really be interested to know more about this aspect . . .
 
  • #35
Out of interest, is there anybody with considerable mass in space that does not rotate? Although there is no significant friction for space to slow bodies down i would have thought that bodies would start to slow down very, very, slightly over time as they would have slight friction form particles in space (solar wind). Or is that effect completely negligable?
 

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