Eli5: Because the Earth is spinning, is there technically a point at both polls where you could stand still and the earth would spin you around in circles?
In: Earth Science
Not quite.
Or at least, there is at any instant, but that point moves around (very slowly and over short distances), so you would have to follow it.
The Earth doesn’t spin perfectly, it wobbles slightly. There are three main kinds of wobble; an annual wobble, a thing called the Chandler wobble (that repeats every ~435 days), and a gradual drift.
This polar drift used to be heading Westwards (and shifted about 20m during the 20th century), but since 2000 seems to have changed direction, possibly related to global warming shifting water mass around.
But yes – ignoring that, there are two points – at the poles – were you could stand and you’d spin around once every day.
Sure, that’s what’s happening when you stand at either pole. You wouldn’t feel it because the ground’s rotating under you and you turning with it. (eta: or in the case of the north pole, the ice under you.)
But if you watched the sky above you, and maybe took a long exposure photograph, you would see that all the stars are spinning in what seems like a circle right around you. (of course it’s not them that’s spinning, you are!)
Well…yes, but you would spin with the earth. Every point, even at the axis of rotation is spinning as well.
Guys ive got a small theoretical question related to this, so what if we try levitating ourselves right over the poles, by sitting on a super strong magnet, which will be over a another repelling magnet below it.
Will this allow us to stay without rotating in place while the earth rotated with the base magnet right below us or will we still rotate?
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