From: Eric Plett (EPlett@serrahs.com)
Date: Thu Feb 03 2005 - 22:38:19 PST
Subject: solar system Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2005 22:38:19 -0800 Message-ID: <53B3BAA2AAE8164C85E60760022FCC1B0120ADA5@serra-exchange.serrahs.com> From: "Eric Plett" <EPlett@serrahs.com>
Ron,
I guess that you got me on that one. I didn't even think of that. And
now that you have brought it to my attention, I'm not sure that I
remember the direction of the spin of the earth (rotation) relative to
the direction that the earth revolves around the sun.
Most "scrambler" rides (like Triple Play at Great America) rotate in an
opposite direction than they "revolve" around the center. For example
the small radius will be clockwise but the larger-arm rotation about the
center will be counterclockwise. This gives the rider the feeling of
cutting through the middle and thrown out toward the side before
repeating this pattern over and over again - like tracing out a star
pattern when viewed from above. My kids love these rides. You get a
feeling of a large acceleration with periods of small acceleration in
between. I can't think of any scrambler rides in which both circles
move in the same direction.
But I would profess that in nature, most directional spins would be
consistent. I know that there are exceptions in nature - I think that
it is Venus that spins in the opposite direction of the rest of the
planets. And Uranus is suspected to have been "knocked on its side" by
a collision. It's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the rest of the
planets. But the direction of spin should be the same for matter that
condensed together (both little spin rotation and big spin revolution).
So my educated guess is that looking from North star downward at our
solar system, that rotation and revolution of the earth are both
counterclockwise.
It's been 10 years since I taught astronomy. So perhaps you'll catch me
on faulty info above. But I think that I'm right on that info and
reasoning.
Eric
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