• Question: How do we know earth rotates west to east?

    Asked by ellz13 to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 21 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Hannah Bentham

      Hannah Bentham answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      If you look at the northern hemisphere (centered over the north pole) from high in the sky, the Earth would appear to rotate anti-clockwise). This is supported by the fact we see the Sun rise in the East and sets in the West (assuming the Sun is stationary, which it is 🙂 ).

    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Yup, the fact that the sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west, as well as western countries seeing the sunlight after eastern ones

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      … and the fact that in the UK it is around 2am on June 21st, while here in the Pacific it is still June 20th, around 5pm.

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I think Hannah, Chris and Simon have pretty much covered this one!

Comments