At how many km per hour does the earth rotate on its axis?

I can’t seem to find the answer and then I found this via google.

Asker: Anne Lies, 11 years old

Answer

Dear Anne Lies
with a rotating object you will not express the rotation speed in km/h but in degrees per second (actually in what is called “radians” per second), but you may not know that word yet. After all, you don’t measure a quantity of distance per time, but a quantity of rotation per time.

The earth rotates once on its axis in 24 hours, so that the speed of rotation is equal to:

360° per day = 15° per hour = 0.25° per minute = 0.004166667° per second

A point on the equator makes a full circle every day with a radius of 6378 km, and therefore has a real speed of 1664 km/h, but for us here in Belgium that is only 1047 km/h. In the north of Norway it is still 556 km/h and at the North Pole you stay in the same place without moving, but you still rotate around your axis every day.
You will learn about that later in geography lessons.

At how many km per hour does the earth rotate on its axis?

Answered by

prof.dr. Paul Hellings

Department of Mathematics, Fac. IIW, KU Leuven

Catholic University of Leuven
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/

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