Earth’s Rotation

In ancient Greece, people believed that powerful gods were responsible for all things
that happened in nature. The Greeks believed that Helios, the Sun god, drove his
fiery chariot from one end of Earth’s sky to the other each day. His daily trip caused
sunrise in the morning and sunset in the evening. At night, Selene, Helios’s sister
and the goddess of the Moon, made her own trip across Earth’s sky. Today,
scientists know that these stories are only myths. Do you know what really causes
sunrise, sunset, day, and night?

How often does the day-and-night cycle occur on Earth?

Earth moves through space in several important ways. One type of motion is called
rotation. A rotation is a spin around a center. For example, imagine a spinning top.
Earth also spins around a central line called an axis. Earth’s axis
is an imaginary vertical line that runs through the planet from the
North Pole to the South Pole. If you
held a globe by putting one finger at
the North Pole and another finger at
the South Pole, the invisible line that
connects your fingers represents the
axis. Earth’s axis is slightly tilted at an
angle of 23.5˚. Because of this tilt,
different locations on Earth receive
different amounts of sunlight at Like a spinning top (right), a globe (left)
different times. As a result, Earth spins around a central line called an axis.
experiences the different seasons of Earth’s axis travels through the
spring, summer, autumn, and winter. planet’s center, connecting the
North Pole to the South Pole.
As you read this sentence, Earth is
rotating around its tilted axis at a rate of 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) per hour!
Why, then, does it feel like Earth is standing still? In comparison to humans and
other things on Earth, the planet is incredibly huge. Because of this difference in
size, you cannot feel the speed of Earth’s rotation. We know the planet is rotating,
though, because we see the effects of it every day.

Earth makes one complete rotation on its axis every 23 hours and 56 minutes, which
is rounded up to 24 hours. Does this time sound familiar? The 24 hours that Earth
takes to make one rotation is equal to one day. Suppose you have a big math test in
three days. How many rotations will Earth make in that time? If you answered three,

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you are correct. All planets rotate on an axis, but they do it at different speeds.
Venus has a very slow rotation. It takes eight months for Venus to spin one time on
its axis. Because a rotation is the same as a day, a day on Venus lasts for eight
months. Jupiter, on the other hand, rotates quite fast. One rotation is fewer than 10
hours.
Discover Science: Foucault’s Pendulum
Scientists have thought that Earth is rotating on an axis
for centuries. For much of this time, however, they
could not prove it using experiments. Finally, in the 19th
century, French scientist Jean Foucault found a way to
demonstrate Earth’s rotation. He hung a long
pendulum from the ceiling of a tall building in Paris,
France. Foucault swung the pendulum from north to
south. If Earth did not rotate, the pendulum would
continue to swing back and forth in the same direction.
But the pendulum didn’t swing back and forth! At each pendulum: a weight
swing, it moved slightly to the right, eventually making a (hung from a single point)
huge circle. This meant that Earth must have been that is allowed
moving beneath the pendulum. to move freely
with gravity
Describe the positions of Earth and the Sun
when it is daytime. How are they different at
night?
As Earth rotates on its axis, the different locations
on Earth change position in relation to the Sun. A
city on Earth that faces toward the Sun at noon will
rotate to face away from the Sun 12 hours later.
The positions of Earth and the Sun over the course
of a 24-hour rotation cause sunrise, sunset, day,
and night.

At all times, half of Earth faces toward the Sun and half faces away from the Sun.
The half that faces toward the Sun is illuminated by the Sun’s glow. It is daytime on
that half of the planet. At the same time, the half of Earth that faces away from the
Sun is in darkness. It is nighttime on that half of the planet. As Earth rotates, the
Sun-facing half steadily moves from sunlight into darkness. From our position on
Earth, this appears as sunset. Meanwhile, the dark-facing half of Earth steadily
moves into the sunlight. We see this as process sunrise.

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Look at these pictures of Earth. The picture on the left

shows a red dot marking Venezuela’s location at a
certain time of day. The picture on the right marks
Venezuela 12 hours later. In which picture would it be
daytime in Venezuela?

On Earth it looks like the Sun is moving across the

sky. Why is this not true?
Throughout the day, the Sun appears to move from
east to west across the sky. In reality, Earth is rotating
from west to east. Shadows offer some evidence to
support this. You can see the apparent motion of the
Sun in the movement of shadows during the day. When the Sun appears to rise
above the eastern horizon in the morning, its light casts long shadows that point to
the west. As the Sun takes its arc-shaped path across the sky, the shadows change.
As the hour approaches noon, the shadows become shorter. When the Sun is
directly overhead, very little shadow is observed. As the day continues, the Sun
appears to move toward the western horizon. Again, the shadows lengthen but now
point toward the east. Before clocks and wristwatches were invented, people used
the Sun’s apparent motion to tell time. A sundial uses shadows to determine the time
of day.

Work with a partner to make a human sundial.

1. With a partner, choose a flat, paved area that you
can mark with chalk or masking tape. Be sure you
can get to the area in the morning, at noon, and in
the afternoon.
2. In the morning (around 9:00 a.m.), go to your area
and face south. (If you do not have a compass,
remember: If you face south in the morning, the Sun
will be on your left.) Have your partner trace your shadow.
3. Use a ruler to measure the length of your shadow in centimeters.
4. Use a ruler to measure your actual height. Then, find the difference between your
shadow length and your height.
5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 again at noon and in the afternoon (around 3:00 p.m.).
Make sure you face the same direction each time.

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6. Take a look at your data. How did your shadow change from morning to noon to
afternoon? How did the Sun’s position affect your shadow’s position? How do you
think your shadow would look at 6:00 a.m.? At 6:00 p.m.? Explain.

Because one rotation takes 24 hours, you might think that each side of Earth spends
approximately 12 hours facing the Sun and 12 hours in darkness. This is true of
places located on or near the equator. However, as you move toward the North and
South Poles, the length of daytime and nighttime varies. The closer a city is to the
North or South Pole, the more extreme the difference in daylight hours and nighttime
hours is. This is due to the tilt of the axis and Earth’s revolution around the Sun.

As Earth revolves around the Sun, the North Pole is tilted revolution:
toward the Sun for part of the year. When this happens, the Earth’s motion
days are very long and the nights are very short. Eventually, around the Sun;
Earth’s revolution causes the North Pole to tilt away from the Earth takes one
Sun. When this happens, the days are very short and the year, or 365 days,
nights are very long. There is even a time of year when the to make a single
Sun doesn’t rise at the North Pole! This is in the middle of revolution
winter when the pole is facing completely away from the Sun.
Of course, when days are long at the North Pole, they are short at the South Pole.
And when days are short at the North Pole, they are long at the South Pole.

What do you know?

Because of Earth’s rotation, cities around the world experience day and night at
different times. The following table lists eight cities around the world and the time of
day in each location. Each point on the globe (A–H) matches one of these cities. The
arrows on top of the globe show the direction of Earth’s rotation (from west to east).
Use your knowledge of the relationship between Earth’s rotation, daytime, and
nighttime to determine the location of each city on the globe.

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City Time of Day City Time of Day

Algiers 8:00 p.m. Montevideo 5:00 p.m.
Cancun 2:00 p.m. Reykjavik 7:00 p.m.
Fairbanks 11:00 a.m. Ulaan Batar 3:00 a.m. (next day)
Magadan 7:00 a.m. (next day) Vancouver 12:00 noon

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Experiencing Earth’s Rotation

To help your child learn more about Earth’s rotation, visit a place where you can
watch a sunrise or a sunset. Be sure your location allows your child to see the
horizon. Large open areas lacking tall trees or buildings—such as a field, a beach, or
atop a building—are the best choices. Have your child write down observations of
the Sun, its motion, and the shadows on the land. Discuss these
observations with your child and encourage
him or her to notice the length and direction of
the shadows and how quickly (or slowly) the
darkness changes into light. Make sure not to
look directly at the Sun during your
observations.

Then, have your child explain the scientific

reason behind each observation. Encourage
your child to draw diagrams or construct
models showing how your position on Earth rotated into the Sun-facing side during
your during your sunrise observations or into darkness during sunset. For any
explanations that your child doesn’t know, have him or her use the knowledge of
Earth’s rotation to hypothesize a possible explanation.

Then, ask your child why the Greeks thought the Sun god Helios traveled across the
sky each day. How did the observations correlate to the ancient Greek myth? Take
your child to a library or conduct an Internet search to find stories about day and
night from other ancient cultures. What do the stories have in common? How are
they different? Why do you think so many cultures have myths about day and night?
Which are the most scientifically accurate?

Here are some questions to discuss with your child:

• How did the shadows change as the sunrise or sunset continued?
• What did the sky look like just before you saw the Sun (sunrise) or just after the
Sun disappeared (sunset)? Why did it look like this?
• If we wanted to see sunrise or sunset during the summer, would we have to arrive
at this location earlier or later? How about during the winter?