How to Prove that the Earth Rotates: Can Humans Observe It?

Jakarta –

The earth always rotates on its axis or axis. This process is called the Earth’s rotation or the process of moving the Earth from west to east.

Earth’s rotation occurs because of Earth’s gravitational process, so that this blue planet will rotate. If the earth does not rotate various scary things can happen.

Quoted from the Live Science page, when the Earth does not rotate, there will be no sunrise and sunset. Thus, there is no day and night.

But can humans see the Earth’s rotation process? The answer depends on your time frame and perspective from watching it.

Basically, the Earth rotates very slowly. So that the rotation is not visible from anywhere, except for seconds watching it from a video made from a camera on NASA’s International Space Station.

But, to see it in person is unlikely. Because back again, the Earth is moving too slowly for our eyes to detect.

Even so, there are 3 ways to prove that the Earth really rotates, let’s see how!

3 Ways to See the Earth Spin

1. Observing the position of other objects in the sky

Stephen Merkowitz, a scientist and project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland explains that observing the Earth’s rotation is observing the apparent motion of celestial bodies.

Furthermore, Stephen described if the Earth’s rotation can be known by looking at the sunset. At that time, the position of the Sun is closest to the horizon.

When detikers see it, the Earth will gradually rotate away from the Sun. That is why the Sun appears to sink into the horizon.

Apart from the sun, detikers can also observe the moon and stars at night. The shining objects in the sky will appear to be moving when the seconds see them silently and not moving. The reason, of course, is because the Earth rotates.

2. Pendulum Foucault

The second way to see the Earth’s rotation is to observe Foucault’s pendulum. The pendulum is the result of experiments by the physicist Jean Foucault.

The results of the experiment were exhibited at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1851. Amazingly, this pendulum was the first formal experimental result to prove that the planet on which we stand rotates.

The pendulum will initially continue to swing in the same direction. However, Foucault eventually realized that his pendulum was gradually changing angles because the Earth was rotating under the pendulum.

But according to Foucault, the Earth’s rotation is very slow. Because it takes about 15 minutes for the change in pendulum swing to become visible.

3. Ebb and flow of sea water

The final way to see the Earth rotating is by watching the tides. The tide will be highest when the Moon orbits closest to Earth at a certain location.

When the Earth and Moon are very close, their gravitational forces will also be close together. The Moon’s gravity can pull on seawater and make it appear to protrude and create tides.

But when the Earth rotates, the water level will recede to reach the farthest distance from the Moon. This cycle will continue to repeat every day.

“The hourly change in tides is largely due to the Earth’s rotation. Meanwhile, the daily change in tide times at certain locations is caused by the Moon’s orbit,” said Stephen Merkowitz.

So, humans really can’t really see the Earth’s rotation with the naked eye. However, humans can still see and feel the effects of its rotation. The method, as mentioned, is the rising tide or the easiest way to watch the sunset. Interesting, detikers!

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(nwk/nwk)