How far in an hour?
By Rhiannonw
- 733 reads
In an hour from now this car should have gone
30 miles if we carry on
at the speed we are going, but, hey, how far
will our world (and us on it) have gone by then
as it spins round each day
– face the sun, face away –
every hour about 600* mile further we’ve spun.
But our globe each year makes a circuit,
cirlcles our ‘star’
How does it work it?
– how far
every hour?
67 times 1000 miles!
exactly, on track
day and night
exquisitely co-ordinated, timed,
engineered, created, mechanically brilliant:
light not too bright,
heated not frizzled.
but we are just puzzled –
don’t realise we’re travelling
around the universe
for better not worse
each minute, each hour, each day
speeding away!
*aprox in UK
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Comments
That is quite mind-spinning
That is quite mind-spinning Rhiannon. A very good IP response - thank you!
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Your explaining poems are
Your explaining poems are really good :0) Your grandchildren must be so well informed!
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Stop it! Stop it! I'm getting
Stop it! Stop it! I'm getting dizzy, as you say those miles. I love it. And dangling from this gravitational effect. Lol. Thanks for the reminder.
William E Alexander
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Yes Its amazing.
Yes, it's amazing how your words made me dizzy just thinking about it. Yes, I enjoyed it.
William E Alexander
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The world turning, and
The world turning, and orbiting the sun, while the galaxy hurtles along - and meanwhile how far is an hour in a car? Great idea Rhiannon.
Dougie Moody
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Well for one thing
Well for one thing, as you say it would depend on how far you are from the poles and equator, but as well as the exact direction you're headed and considering the Earth orbital velocity. However even for this very simplified model the calculations are not that simple.
Interesting this but you can take it to ridiculous lengths – Ok the solar system, then the milky way and distant galaxies. all hurtling through space at unimaginable relative speeds even comparable to lightspeed. For practical purposes the numbers are meaningless.
Interesting though you should be able to measure acceleration I think, experimentally.
Tom
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