what makes the earth spin and keep spinning?
In: 28
When the Solar System formed, it formed from an incomprehensibly large cloud of gas called a *stellar nursery.* As it collapsed under gravity, pockets of higher density formed by chance, and started gathering more and more gas towards them; these pockets would go on to become the planets.
As these pockets continued to collapse, *conservation of angular momentum* (if you’ve ever watched an ice skater start spinning faster when they tuck their bodies in, think of that but `l a r g e`) made the pockets start to spin faster.
The Earth’s spin is an artifact of the spin it had when it was created, and it keeps spinning because there’s no friction in space to slow it down.
(Technically, the pull of the Moon’s gravity *is* having an effect, but it’s teeny-tiny: 400 million years ago, Earth took 22 hours to rotate instead of 24.)
Latest Answers