We are moving too fast
An observer is standing on Earth's surface, at the equator. In his frame of reference, what is the speed of the center of the Earth (in )?
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Earth's radius at the equator is about .
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Make sure that you use the correct time period for Earth's rotation.
Image Credit: Wikipedia .
The answer is 464.51.
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1 solution
The speed of the center of the earth relative to the observer is equal to the speed of the observer relative to the center of the earth.
If we stood at the center of the earth, we would see that the observer is moving in a circle of radius 6378 km. The circumference of the circle is 2 × π × 6 3 7 8 ≈ 4 0 0 7 4 km. The observer completes one revolution in one sidereal day , which is about 86164 seconds.
Hence the relative speed is about 8 6 1 6 4 4 0 0 7 4 km/s, which is approximately 465 m/s. □