Some science museums have this set up, and you can watch it for a few minutes and see the pendulum apparently rotate. The reason for the delay: the spin of the Earth.Īnd finally, Foucault’s pendulum is a relatively simple way to “see” the spin of the Earth. But if you look at the high tide, it will not reach its maximum when the Sun is overhead (and the Moon directly below) typically the high tide will be about 6 hours later (and about six hours earlier). The tides are greatest when the Sun and the Moon are aligned, for example, exactly opposite each other (leading to a Full Moon). Here is one that is not widely known, even to physicists! We are taught that the tides are due to the gravitational pulls of the Sun and the Moon.

There are many other effects from the spinning Earth. Here is a quote from Ask the Space Scientist: “If you weighed 100 pounds at the north pole on a spring scale, at the equator you would weigh 99.65 pounds, or 5.5 ounces less.” You would feel less pressure on your leg muscles! But once again, the reason you don’t notice it is because it is a small effect. The spinning of the Earth also reduces the amount you weigh when you travel to the Equator, due to the centrifugal force of the spin. 308 175gr bullet at 2700fps muzzle velocity, from a latitude of 45° in the Northern Hemisphere, the deflection at 1000yds will be of 3 in to right.”Īs others have pointed out, you can “see” the spinning of the Earth by watching the stars rotate around a point close to the North Star. See: long Range Shooting: External Ballistics website, which has the following quote: “… firing.

They shoot a bullet, but by the time it reaches its range, the object has rotated out from under its original spot, by a bit. Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise because of the spin of the Earth.Įven snipers must take into account the spin of the Earth. But slow it back a factor of 60, and your body won’t sense that.Ī scientist sees evidence of the rotation when he looks at the rotation of clouds around a high or low pressure system.

Can we feel the earth spinning