It’s strange to think that Earth the planet we are living on is continually spinning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year as it orbits the Sun. One full orbit of the Sun takes a full year and and is the basis for the formation of our calendar. It takes 24 hours for the Earth to completely spin around once and is the basis of a daily 24 hour clock. But how fast does the earth spin on its axis and how can we calculate the speed?

How to calculate how fast the Earth is spinning

The Earth circumference at the equator is roughly 40,075 kilometres. To work out how fast does the earth spin We divide the circumference of the Earth by the length of a day.

Earths circumference divided by the hours in a day = how fast the Earth is spinning

40,075 km / 24 hrs = 1,669.7917 km/h

Or rounded up 1,670 kilometres an hour or 1,038 miles per hour. Wow that is fast 🙂

1,038 miles per hour (mph)

1,670 kilometres per hour (kmh)

Even though the Earth is spinning at over 1,000 mph every second of the day, we don’t feel it. Similar to if we were inside a car travelling along a route.

Interesting scientific fact

While we are on the subject it is also worth mentioning that scientists have calculated one full rotation on the earths axis in relation to distant stars is actually 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds, known as a sidereal day.

More space mysteries & answers to your questions about the planets!

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