-
"Does planet Earth turns slowly? It depends on how you look at it. At the equator it's roaring along at more than 1000 miles per hour. This is pretty fast by terrestrial standards, and perhaps what Owl City had in mind. But on the other hand its angular velocity is just one rotation per day, or a very sedate 0.000694 RPM. Kids sometime imagine the earth as a spinning basketball and wonder why we don't fly off, and that's pretty much why: spin a basketball at 0.000694 RPM and I bet any ants on its surface will keep their grip just fine."
- Log in to post comments
More like this
I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly...
- Owl City, Fireflies
If you're had any exposure to pop radio over the last few months, you've heard this plaintive rumination about the earth's rotation. The first time I heard it I thought it must be the Postal Service getting…
This week I'm teaching rotational motion to my students. Here's an easy problem from their textbook, which comes from the idea of using a flywheel to store energy. I'm modifying it from problem 9.41 in Young and Geller:
Suppose we want to built a flywheel in the shape of a solid cylinder or…
slacktivist: The IndigNation
"That's an example of what's often missing today in dealing with the IndigNation. These people are offended and outraged and so politicians and journalists respond by trying not to further offend or enrage them. As though that were possible. Indignation is their raison…
Physics Buzz: Watch this!
"Forget the cheesy narrator and hokey graphics. Wobble the camera like you're Michel Gondry filming Eternal Sunshine. Ditch the pseudo-techno soundtrack that makes the kids shake their heads at you for trying to be hip, and go for something understated. Then you might…