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.
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Also, I’m pretty sure this is why rockets are launched as close to the equator as possible. There faster spin near the equator helps the rocket reach escape velocity. At least that is my layman understanding.
The speed is constant. What is not constant is the distance traveled. The poles of the ball will travel a MUCH shorter distance than the equator.
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