live moving pictures animated spinning earth

As Earth rotates, the water level sinks until it reaches the furthest possible distance from the orbiting moon, or low tide. Lunar gravity pulls at the oceans and temporarily makes them bulge outward, toward the moon, creating high tide. Being closer to the moon means being closer to its gravity. As Earth rotates, it brings that location toward the closest point in the moon's orbit. High tide occurs when the moon orbits closest to Earth at a particular location. Tides are more evidence that Earth rotates. Where on Earth does the sun rise first? What if Earth started spinning backward? There is no friction to slow down movement in the vacuum of space. After they accreted (accumulated) into our planet, they never stopped moving. The moon and tidesĮarth spins because it formed from clumps of dust and gas, which were already rotating and pulled together by gravity, Merkowitz explained. However, Earth's rotation is so slow, it takes about 15 minutes for a change in the pendulum's swing to become visible. Only a push or pull in another direction can change that Foucualt realized that his pendulum would incrementally change angles while swinging, because Earth is rotating beneath the pendulum.

Free-standing pendulums usually keep swinging in the same direction. According to the Smithsonian Institution, physicist Jean Foucault showcased the experiment at the World's Fair in Paris in 1851, and was the first formal experiment to prove our planet rotates. The rotation of our planet can also be observed with a Foucault pendulum.

(Image credit: Chesnot / Contributor via Getty Images)

A Foucault pendulum swings in the Panthéon in Paris, France on April 4, 2016.

Live moving pictures animated spinning earth