Why does the earth spin?!??!?

Question

this has been bugging me for a long time and I can never understand all the scientific websites!

plz help!

Answer 1

Apparently it was motionless for a couple of million years but then just got bored...give it another few million years and it'll probably change directions...

Answer 2

the earth spins because it has an axis this axis causes it to spin weather the earth wants to or not.

just like orbiting the sun, the sun is pulling the earth so it has to orbit

if the sun didnt have a very strong gravity then the earth ouldnt orbit the sun anhd just go wondering around in space

now you understand that the axis makes the earth spin

Answer 3

Basically, it spins because it has been spinning since it was formed. It's just like a top, once you start it spinning, it will gradually slow down over time until it eventually slows to a stop.

Interestingly, the primary thing that's slowing the Earth's rotation today is tidal forces exerted by the moon.

Answer 4

Because the forces that acted upon it during its formation set it spinning.

Answer 5

Once it began spinning, angular momentum keeps it spinning at the same rate.

To consider anything that happened before the impact that eventually resulted in the formation of the moon would be essentially moot.  The impact happened off-center, resulting in the moment that caused the earth to spin the way it does today.

Although the dynamics were very different, the net effect is similar to what you can see on a billiards table: off-center collisions cause balls to spin.

Answer 6

because we ave day and night. this is because of gravity and the moon when it blocks the sun path.

Answer 7

Gravity

Answer 8

idk know but i know that venus spins clockwise, so the sun rises in the west and sets in the east over there

Answer 9

Loads of little people in the centre of the earth peddling these huge cogs around.

Its true.

Somebody told me

Answer 10

The Earth and other planets in the solar system grew slowly over billions of years from the early solar system, which was originally a huge cloud of dust, rocks and gas called a solar nebula — a relatively small eddy of materials left over from the big bang and supernovae.

Current theory holds that a nearby star went supernova and the shockwave caused the solar nebula to gain angular momentum, making it spin faster and faster.  This caused the nebula to flatten out into an accretion disk.  

As the early Earth formed from this accretion disk, the angular momentum of these materials had to be conserved, so the spinning materials making up the Earth continue to spin.  This spin has slowed over time due to tidal forces from our moon.

Hope this helps!

Answer 11

The most popular explanation is the Big Bang theory.  In very simple words, a big star exploded and it sent a shockwave through a solar nebula. Then all the gas and dust clumped together and they started spinning because of the law of conservation of momentum.  It's kind of like blowing a pinwheel, and there's not much friction to stop it, so it keeps turning and turning.  Gravity from the sun keeps it in orbit.

There's also the tidal friction and giant impact theory that moves it along, but that's a different story.

Answer 12

It's got something to do with the suns solar radiation effecting the north and south magnetic poles

Answer 13

The answer starts with the forces that formed our solar system.

A fledgling star gathers a disk of dust and gas around itself. As things coalesce, the star's gravitational orbit sets that dust and gas to spinning. "Any clump that forms within that disk is going to naturally have some sort of rotation,"  

As the clump collapses on itself it starts spinning faster and faster because of something called conservation of angular momentum. Figure skaters exploit this law when they bring their arms closer to their bodies to speed up their rate of spin. Since gravity pulls inward from all directions equally, the amorphous clump, if massive enough, will eventually become a round planet. Inertia then keeps that planet spinning on its axis unless something occurs to disturb it. "The Earth keeps spinning because it was born spinning,"

Different planets have different rates of rotation. Mercury, closest to the Sun, is slowed by the Sun's gravity, making but a single rotation in the time it takes the Earth to rotate 58 times. Other factors affecting rotational speed include the rapidity of a planet's initial formation (faster collapse means more angular momentum conserved) and impacts from meteorites, which can slow down a planet or knock it off stride.

Answer 14

something to do with gravity pulling it round?  but then, theres no gravity in space.... erm, ...maybe it's a giant tumble-weed dressed up as earth!! Good disguise mr tumble-weed, good disguise!