We know the Earth is in motion..

Question

It both rotates on its axis and orbits the sun.

But how many people know what constitutes the EVIDENCE for this motion?

When answering this question, please remember that just because the rotation of the earth causes night and day, night and day do not constitute direct evidence for the earth's motion (it could be considered circumstantial evidence.)

Answer 1

How is night and day circumstantial, how else can you explain night and day, please I would love to hear it. I think the evidence is very direct that the earth rotates. DUMB question for an astrophysicist.

Answer 2

I would say our relationship to the sun, the seasons, and its coordinates, along with the relationship with the other planets.

Answer 3

?! Cant  understand the question... sorry

Answer 4

I am not sure what you mean by "circumstantial" in the case of the night-day cycle. Direct evidence of the rotation of the earth other than the day night cycle is relatively sophisticated. "g", for example, is different at sea level on the equator than at the poles; it is slightly less on the equator due to the bulge of the earth at the equator because of its rotation. This leads to other evidence as well, namely the diameter of the earth varies in such a way that is hard to account for without assuming a spinning earth. Finally, the Foucault Pendulum would be completely mysterious without assuming a spinning earth.

Motion about the sun is even more indirect: stellar parallax, the change in the apparent position of the stars from night to night (which includes the assumption that the earth spins), change in the first point of Aries, that change in the apparent size of Mars, etc.

HTH

Charles

Answer 5

For that, you have to rely on Occam's Razor:

What is the simplest theory: The world rotates around a stationary Earth (which is mathematically as valid as a moving Earth) or Earths rotates?

Day and night can also be caused by the sun rotating around the Earth, but the movement of the stars around Earth happens at the same rate. You finally have more and more objects rotating around Earths axis.

Next, you can observe that other celestial objects also rotate around their axis.

You have now two possible explanations:

1) Because of unknown reasons, Earth is the only stationary planet and the whole universe rotates around Earth, while the planets also orbit the sun.

2) Earth is rotating just like all other objects and we are just seeing things from our own relative point of view.

The first one can't explain one aspect (why only Earth), the second is already completed as it is.  

Answer 6

There really isn't any way to observe the sky and deduce that the Earth rotates.  HOWEVER, the coriolis effect and Focault's pendulum plainly shows that the Earth, explaining the APPARENT motion of things in the sky.

As for Earth's revolution about the sun, stellar parallax and deflection of starlight both show that we're moving.  Ockham's razor has nothing to do with it.

Answer 7

An international team of NASA and university resercher has found the first directevedence of a phenomenon predicted 80 yrs agousing einstine s theoryof general relativity--- that the earthis dragging space and timaround itself as it rotates. reserchers believe theyhave detected the effect by preciselymeasuring shifs in the orbits of two earth orbiting laser ranging satalites they call this frame dragging  

Answer 8

The coriolis effect is evidence for the rotation, as the rotation and angular momentum of the Earth deflects something off its straight line path.

For the revolution, the movement of the planets relative to the Earth is pretty good evidence. Astronomers calculated that based on the relative motions of the planet, that if the sun were at the center of the solar system, the planets had to be moving in elliptical orbits.  

Answer 9

Far too few. More people should know what constitutes the EVIDENCE for this motion.

(Your question was 'how many people know' )