How does earths rotation affect its heating and cooling?

Answer 1

Short answer

It is gravity that holds the Earth and other planets in their orbits, and the motion

of the planets (their inertia) keeps them from falling into the Sun.

At any instant, the Earth has velocity in a direction at a tangent to its

orbital path.

Longer answer

The Earth stays in a near-circular elliptical orbit around the Sun because the net

gravitational force acting between the mass of the Sun and the mass of the

Earth is effectively a constant centripetal force which keeps the Earth in its orbit.

If the Earth was stationary the much greater gravitational force of the Sun would

cause the Earth to "fall" into the Sun where it would be completely absorbed and

would simply increase the mass of the Sun.

The overall net result is that the Earth moves around the Sun just as if it were

tethered to the Sun by a very strong elastic chain!

There is a theory that the centripetal force - which constantly pulls the Earth

towards the Sun - is perfectly balanced by an equal force, but opposite in

direction, called the "centrifugal force". That is an imaginary force created by the

action of the Earth moving around its orbit. The theory goes on to say that, in

the absence of any force of gravity, the Earth's centrifugal force would make it fly

off into space instead of traveling in its orbit around the Sun. (Note: This is not

'theory'. It is widespread urban legend, based on ignorance.)

If gravity did not exist, there would really be no forces acting on the mass of the

Earth to cause it to move in any direction at all. But the Earth would still move

because of its inertia. It would "fly off", at a tangent to its orbit, if the Sun's

gravity suddenly "magically" disappeared.

Answer 2

The sun moves across the sky not because it is moving but because the earth is revolving and allows us to only see the sun for about 15 hours a day. In a sense, the sun does orbit each of the bodies that orbits the sun. This is real, but in the case of our relatively gigantic sun, there is little if any observable effect. Consider the earth-moon system as an example. If the earth and moon were of exactly equal mass, then observed from above you would see the two swinging around together, and you would not see a motionless earth with a massive moon revolving around it. They would in reality each be orbiting around their common center of gravity. The greater the difference in mass between the two bodies, the nearer to the larger body the center of gravity will be. In the case of the earth-moon, the center of gravity, or barycenter, is literally within the body of the earth itself. The sun is so unimaginably massive that it is likely the barycenter between the sun and any other body of the solar system must be within the body of the sun itself. Of course, there are countless bodies orbiting the sun, so there would be some complex interactions going on among all those barycenters. But at times when the major planets are gathered together within a few degrees of one another, perhaps there would be a measurable, even if slight, effect on the position of the sun. Binary star systems, where two suns of equal or similar mass swing around each other, are also examples of the same idea.

Answer 3

The gravitational force that wants to pull the earth to the sun is offset by the earth's inertia. The earth is a mass in motion, and it wants to stay in motion moving in the direction it is going in. The gravity of the sun pulls the earth toward it, and the two forces, earth's inertia and the sun's gravity, operate in an equilibrium. Earth follows it orbital path based on its own inertia and the sun's gravity, and it follows an arc throughout each moment of travel.

Answer 4

The Earth is falling towards the Sun. However it is falling so fast that it misses the surface of the Sun and keeps falling in a circle, as the surface of the Sun is curved.

This is essentially how all orbits work. An object is free-falling towards another object but at such a velocity (speed and direction) that it continues in a circular path around the object.

Answer 5

The velocity of earths revolution around the sun is in a constant battle with gravity. Velocity (centrifugal force) is winning but not by much. Given enough time the earth would break off from the suns gravitational pull and be sent out into space. Fortunately the sun will run out of it's lighter materials by then and expand as it dies to swallow the sun before becoming a dwarf star.

Answer 6

The orbit of Earth round the Sun is described by an ellipse.

Answer 7

someone please answer this question. ive been trying for days really need to know. ;)

Answer 8

it is a perfect balance of friction and gravity

Answer 9

Without the Sun's gravity, the Earth would go spinning off into interstellar space. It is the gravity of the Sun that keeps the Earth in orbit around the Sun.

Answer 10

The sun rotates anti-clockwise