Question

The earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. Determine how fast (in mph) we are spinning around the earth's axis at your location. [Assume our latitude is 45 deg. N and the radius of the earth is 3,960 miles]

Answer 1

The segmental radius of earth at the latitude 45 ⁰ N is 3960 miles. The earth rotates all the way around every 24 hours. The segmental circumference of the earth at the latitude 45 ⁰ N is 2π*3960 miles. Assuming the value of π to be 3.14159, we have 2π*3960 = 2*3.14159*3960 = 24881.39 miles( on rounding off to 2 decimal places).Since this distance is covered in 24 hours, the speed at which we are spinning around the earth's axis at the latitude 45 ⁰ N is 24881.39/24 = 1036.72 mph.( on rounding off to 2 decimal places).