The ground at the equator is moving at 1,670 kilometres an hour
Earth’s equatorial circumference and its sidereal day give a ground speed of about 1,670 km/h. A point near the pole barely moves.
Established2 min read
The equatorial radius is about 6,378 kilometres. One sidereal turn takes 86,164 seconds. Speed is the circumference divided by that period: about 465 metres per second, or 1,674 km/h. Paris is slower. The poles are zero, ignoring the orbit both of them share.
This is why launches prefer low latitudes, and why a Foucault pendulum turns. The speed is uneven across the planet. You have never felt it, because the air, the sea, and the floor agreed on it before you arrived.
Caveats
- The figure is relative to Earth’s axis, not to the Sun and not to the galaxy.
Sources
- 1Petit G., Luzum B. (eds.). IERS Conventions. International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, 2010.