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Ethan
Student
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
1
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Space station questions
Why does the earth rotate and what does it rotate on? Also how was the international space station sent up to space and built but in space. Also how don’t rockets burn up in space?
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Mustafa Khan
Neurologist, Theoretical Physicist
36
Answers
New York, New York
Updated
Mustafa’s Answer
To address your first question, we'll need to delve into our current theories about how our solar system evolved from a primordial gas cloud around 5 billion years ago. Here are some simple and basically, though not fully, accurate answers:
1) In the world of physics, the Earth's spin is referred to as its angular momentum. This momentum was gained when the Earth was formed about 5 billion years ago from the nebula that birthed our entire solar system. Thanks to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the Earth has continued to spin without losing much of its angular momentum energy. This is because there's no force (known as torque) that could alter its angular momentum. This concept is based on Newton's first law of motion, but instead of applying to linear velocity, it's applied to angular velocity.
2) The Earth isn't spinning on anything. It's spinning in the vast emptiness of space, only influenced by the Sun's gravitational field. This gravitational effect is perpendicular to the angular momentum, so it doesn't act as a torque to change the angular momentum. The lack of friction in space allows the Earth to keep spinning without losing angular momentum, unlike a spinning top on a table which slows down due to the friction between the top and the table.
3) The International Space Station (ISS) was transported to space in parts. These parts were stowed in the cargo hold of space shuttles and then assembled by astronauts who traveled with the shuttles.
4) The straightforward reason why rockets don't burn up in space is the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, there's nothing to fuel a fire for the rockets to burn.
1) In the world of physics, the Earth's spin is referred to as its angular momentum. This momentum was gained when the Earth was formed about 5 billion years ago from the nebula that birthed our entire solar system. Thanks to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the Earth has continued to spin without losing much of its angular momentum energy. This is because there's no force (known as torque) that could alter its angular momentum. This concept is based on Newton's first law of motion, but instead of applying to linear velocity, it's applied to angular velocity.
2) The Earth isn't spinning on anything. It's spinning in the vast emptiness of space, only influenced by the Sun's gravitational field. This gravitational effect is perpendicular to the angular momentum, so it doesn't act as a torque to change the angular momentum. The lack of friction in space allows the Earth to keep spinning without losing angular momentum, unlike a spinning top on a table which slows down due to the friction between the top and the table.
3) The International Space Station (ISS) was transported to space in parts. These parts were stowed in the cargo hold of space shuttles and then assembled by astronauts who traveled with the shuttles.
4) The straightforward reason why rockets don't burn up in space is the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, there's nothing to fuel a fire for the rockets to burn.
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