Question: why does the Earth spin in a clockwise instead of anticlockwise?

Asked by jh3tt2002 to DJ, Kyler, Mia, Mick, Peter on 29 Aug 2013. This question was also asked by decagon.

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  1. Photo: Peter PerryPeter Perry
    answered on 29 Aug 2013:

    Depends on whether you are looking down on the North Pole or the South Pole which way you think it spins.
    However, the Sun and MOST planets all spin in the same direction. Spinning is necessary for the system to be stable (if it did not spin, we would not be here) and it all condensed from a cloud of junk all spinning in the same direction.

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  2. Photo: Mia CobbMia Cobb
    answered on 29 Aug 2013:

    The earth rotates from west toward the east – I reckon @Kyler will have plenty more information for you on this one!

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  3. Photo: David JefferyDavid Jeffery
    answered on 29 Aug 2013:

    Great question and lots of physics to explain it I’m sure. This is Kyler’s gig so I’ll leave it to him, but i think it relates earth being struck by something.

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  4. Photo: Kyler KuehnKyler Kuehn
    answered on 29 Aug 2013:

    When the sun first formed, it was pretty random which way all the gases were moving, but overall there ended up being a preferred direction. The sun and most of the planets ended up spinning in that direction when they formed. There is one planet and some moons that spin (or orbit) the other way, though, and that is definitely a sign that something strange is going on. Maybe they were captured or maybe there was an impact with something else. We’re still learning about a lot of these details of the solar system in specific, even if we know the general picture of stars and planets all forming out of a big rotating cloud of gas and dust.

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  5. Photo: Michael CroninMichael Cronin
    answered on 31 Aug 2013:

    I guess there’s not much more for me to add on this one, however, I’ll tell you how I picture it in my head to help me understand it.

    It’s much more complicated than this but it could be like when you pull the plug from the sink and watch the water start to drain out. Sometimes the water drains clockwise but not always. It can change from one day to the next and if anything else is in sink at the same time.

    Hope it helps a little 🙂

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