Topic 2: Rotation and Revolution.
Rotation:
Spinning of the Earth along its axis from West to East in 24 hours.
It’s Diurnal (Daily – 24 hours).
Speed of Rotation is faster at the Equator as compared to the Poles.
Revolution:
Movement of the Earth around the Sun in 365 ¼ days.
It’s Annual (Yearly – 365 ¼ days).
Axis:
It’s an imaginary line running through the centre of the Earth from the North Pole to the South Pole which is
tilted/inclined.
It’s what the Earth rotates on.
It’s tilted towards the Pole Star.
It’s inclined at an angle of 23.5° from the perpendicular.
It’s inclined at angle of 66.5° to the elliptical plane.
Elliptical Plane:
It’s the distance between the Elliptical Orbit and the Sun.
Elliptical Orbit:
It’s the path on which the Earth moves around the Sun.
Q) Why only one part of the Earth lits up?
Ans: This is because the Earth is a sphere and it’s opaque.
Q) Why we don’t feel the motions of the Earth?
Ans: We don’t feel the motions of the Earth because we, along with everything around us, rotate at the same
constant speed as the Earth.
Circle of Illumination:
It divides the Earth into darkness and light.
It’s always perpenicular.
Effects of Earth’s Rotation:
It alternates day and night.
It creates a Centrifugal Force which gives Earth its ‘Geoid’ shape.
It creates a Coriolis Force (Winds & Water -> move right in the Northern Hemisphere and left in the Southern
Hemisphere).
It creates high tides and low tides.
Occurrence of sunrise/sunset. Some places get sunrise/sunset first (Example: Japan – Land of the Rising Sun (World) and
Arunachal Pradesh – Land of the Rising Sun (India)). Sun rises in the East as the Earth rotates West to East.
It creates a time difference of 4 minutes per longitude.
Objects seem to move East to West as the Earth rotates West to East.
Parallelism of the Earth’s axis:
The Earth’s axis points towards the pole star throughout in the same direction as it revolves around the Sun.
Effect of Earth’s revolution on an inclined axis:
It creates seasons.
It creates varying lengths of days and nights.
It creates Perihelion and Aphelion positions.
It creates heat zones. (Torrid/Temperate/Frigid).
Solstice and Equinox:
Equinox means equal lengths of days and nights. (12 hours day and 12 hours night).
Solstice means sun standing still/sun shining for a longer period of time over a certain area.
Summer Solstice: June 21st – Summer Solstice Day (Northern Hemisphere) and Longest Day (Nothern Hemisphere).
Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
Winter Solstice: December 22nd – Winter Solstice Day (Northern Hemisphere) and Longest Night (Northern
Hemisphere). Summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Spring Equinox: March 21st – Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
Autumn Equinox: September 23rd – Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
Perihelion and Aphelion:
Perihelion: A position of the Earth when it’s closet to the Sun. (148/149 million kilometers). It occurs on 3rd January
(After the Winter Solstice).
Aphelion: A position of the Earth when it’s farthest from the Sun. (151/152 million kilometers). It occurs on 3rd July
(After the Summer Solstice).
Twilight/Dusk and Dawn:
The period of diffused light between sunset and complete darkness is called Twilight/Dusk.
The period of diffused light between sunrise and full daylight is called Dawn.