Earth rotation is one of the two forms of the movement of the earth.
Earth Rotation refers to the spinning or turning of the earth on its Axis from West to East through 360 degrees in 24 hours. The axis as used here refers to the imaginary line that passes through the centre of the earth from North pole to South pole. The 360 degrees refers to the Lines of Longitudes which are numbered up to 360. The 24 hours refers to the Time taken by the earth to complete one Rotation.
The rotation is usually in an anticlockwise direction, West to East.
EFFECTS OF EARTH ROTATION
These are the experiences that are observed on the surface of the Earth in the course of earth rotation. These include;
1. Apparent sunrise and sunset: In the course of earth rotation, it appears the Sun is moving but, in the actual sense of it, the sun does not move but rather, it is the earth that moves.
2. Day and Night: In the course of earth rotation, one side of the earth faces the sun and is being reflected by it as day light; while the other side away from the sun do not have the reflection and is therefore in darkness.
3. Difference in Time: The earth rotates from west to east, but the sun rises from east to west. Areas in the east see the rising sun before the west. Areas in the east sees the rising sun before places in the west and as such, places in the east have their time ahead of places in the west. This is because, the rotation of the earth is at the pace of 4 minutes for every 1 degree, or 1 hour for every 15 degrees.
4. Deflection of freely moving bodies: Freely moving bodies such as air or wind are usually caused to change direction.
