Related Questions
- can the earths rotation be sped up or slowed down?
- How long would it take for us to find out why we are here on Earth? (if there is a reason)
- Do you think that the earth was created just for humans or it is just a coincidence that everything is just right?
- why is earth on a tilt
- do you think our land will ever become one again?
Interesting question, and part of the answer is it has always turned, but is very gradually slowing down.
Have you ever watched water going down a drain – it swirls around because it is drawn into the centre. Our solar system started as a cloud of gas and rocks. Gravity drew it into the centre and as it did it started spinning, just like the water. Out of this cloud condensed the Sun and planets, all spinning. Unevenness in the planets (and possibly the odd collision with meteors) mean that the axes are tilted relative to the general plane of the Solar System (Uranus is tilted so much it is rolling around the sun like a ball).
Our Moon is also rotating, but it has slowed down to the point it turns once for every time it goes around the Earth. Eventually (in millions of years time) the Earth will slow down so it has one side pointing to the Sun all the time.
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Peter gives a very good, detailed answer. If you’ve learned about angular momentum in school (the reason why a top stands up when it spins, for example), you know the basic explanation for why the planets (including the earth) turn. They started out with angular momentum, and that causes each one to spin on its axis, and also to travel around the sun in its orbit.
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@kido: the guys beat me to it again! You might like to watch this quick YouTube clip that helps explains it (and what other people who don’t really know but are guessing think!) too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQxeutcYP6I
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