The other night, I was lying in bed beside my husband well on the way to oblivion when he asked, “How fast do you think you’re moving at the moment.”
Despite the fact my mind was fogged with sleep, that question should have been a no-brainer. But as he obviously knew something I didn’t and wanted to share, I gave him the reply he wanted. “You tell me.”
Turns out, the Earth spins at about 1000 miles per hour. So lying in my cozy bed, I’m actually whizzing through space at that speed. Okay. A little mind bending, but I can cope with that concept, as I’m sure you can. Don’t get too comfy though, we’re just getting started.
While we spin at 1000 mph, we travel around the sun at a speed of 50,000 mph. Mind-boggling. Oh yes. Add to that the fact our solar system (our sun and all its planets) travels once around our galaxy every 200 million years at the speed of 100,000 mph, while our galaxy (The Milky Way) is being pulled toward a large neighboring galaxy called Andromeda at a speed of 600,000 miles per hour (167 miles per second!).
The question is, if you combine all the above speeds, how fast are you moving?
I haven’t got a clue!
Any math geniuses reading this?
(Speeds quoted are approximate!)
Despite the fact my mind was fogged with sleep, that question should have been a no-brainer. But as he obviously knew something I didn’t and wanted to share, I gave him the reply he wanted. “You tell me.”
Turns out, the Earth spins at about 1000 miles per hour. So lying in my cozy bed, I’m actually whizzing through space at that speed. Okay. A little mind bending, but I can cope with that concept, as I’m sure you can. Don’t get too comfy though, we’re just getting started.
While we spin at 1000 mph, we travel around the sun at a speed of 50,000 mph. Mind-boggling. Oh yes. Add to that the fact our solar system (our sun and all its planets) travels once around our galaxy every 200 million years at the speed of 100,000 mph, while our galaxy (The Milky Way) is being pulled toward a large neighboring galaxy called Andromeda at a speed of 600,000 miles per hour (167 miles per second!).
The question is, if you combine all the above speeds, how fast are you moving?
I haven’t got a clue!
Any math geniuses reading this?
(Speeds quoted are approximate!)
8 comments:
LOL! I'm too tired to crunch the numbers this morning! But the next time someone comments that I'm being a "couch potato" I'm gonna pop that bit at them! :)
As a person who actively avoids math at all costs, this post was enough to blow my mind! :-P (In a good way, of course!)
One tends to forget how fast we're actually traveling when one is sitting still, staring at a computer screen!
No counting for me! I just luv the whole mystical beauty of it. Godspeed, and we're in the middle of it in our own way.
That pic is extraordinarily amazing and gorgeous.
Okay, I guesstimate about 1.3 million miles per hour. Damn! No wonder I feel so exhausted by the end of the day! :)
Dear All,
I didn't do the math...unless it's statistics, I usually wait until someone else crunches the numbers:) Thanks, Anitra.
Sorry, I didn't get on yesterday...the mystical beauty of it all is actually soothing. If we haven't flown off yet, maybe all is well.
Lexie
Anitra, I award you the prize of some cyber chocs (very low on calories and taste like heaven!) for having a stab at the sums. You could even be right; we'll never know. :-)
Yum! Any chocolate is good, very good! Even better when it's calorie free! But actually after I crunched the numbers (LOL but I minored in math in college, but it was VERY long ago and very far away) Anyway, after I played with the numbers and didn't trust my answer, I did a bit of google searching and found:
http://calgary.rasc.ca/howfast.htm
Or, to sum up
1,342,000 mi/hr or 373 mi/sec
so I was close. Er, sorta. :)
Great post, Helen, and thanks for confirming what my teachers always said: YOU will use math everyday. :0
Helen, your husband sounds like mine!
The whole thought of whizzing through space makes me a bit dizzy.
Post a Comment