I was holding a rubber band ball in my hand earlier and tossing it up in the air at about eye level. I noticed that I could see the shape of individual rubber bands on the axis of rotation on the outside of the ball but the edges of the ball were blurry. This got me thinking.. is a ball spinning slower near the axis than it is at the outer edge? Is the earth spinning faster at the equator than it is at the poles? If speed is d/t then the math makes sense to a layman like me that the ball would be rotating slower at the center and faster on the edges. Please help.
edit: holy shit. balls are fascinating.
In: 439
Yes and no.
**The Yes:** Every atom of the ball is spinning at the same **rotational speed**.
**The No:** The atoms further from the center are moving faster than the ones closer – they **cover more distance in the same unit time**. The atom exactly at the center of the spin is not moving in space at all ( only around its own axis ).
So, depending on what speed you are measuring the answer is yes or it is no.
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