Why? Question of the Day

Why does the Earth rotate?

The Earth rotates because of the way it was formed. Our Solar System formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a huge cloud of gas and dust started to collapse under its own gravity. As the cloud collapsed, it started to spin. This is because of the conservation of angular momentum. Angular momentum is the product of an object’s mass and its rotational velocity. As the cloud of gas and dust collapsed, its mass decreased, but its rotational velocity increased in order to conserve angular momentum.

The Earth keeps on rotating because there are no forces acting to stop it. The force of gravity from the Sun and Moon does exert a torque on the Earth, but this torque is not enough to stop the Earth from rotating. In fact, the torque from the Moon actually causes the Earth to slow down its rotation very slowly over time.

The Earth rotates from west to east. This is because the Earth’s spin was created by the same force that caused the Solar System to form, and that force was coming from the east.

The Earth’s rotation is important for life on Earth. It is what causes day and night, and it also helps to distribute heat around the planet. Without the Earth’s rotation, life would be very different.

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