How Fast are you Standing Still?

With our earth spinning and orbiting the Sun, and the Sun and Milky Way moving around in the universe, how fast do you think we’re traveling just standing still - all in?

a)  A little over 67,000 miles per hour

b)  More like 200,000 miles per hour

c)  Nearly 2 million miles per hour

d)  Zero miles per hour…I still believe the earth is the center of everything

e)  It’s all relative…you have to ask your brother or aunt or something

f)  None of the above - I only work in Kilometers per hour.

The correct answer is c) nearly 2 million miles per hour.  However, if you answer was e) you can claim partial credit (but not about the brother or aunt).   When everything is moving, and I mean everything including space itself, how do you measure any speed at all?  Compared to what?  Hence it is relative.

Scientists believe that space itself is still expanding, based on something called the cosmic background radiation.  They can use the rate of expansion of this cosmic radiation stuff as a frame of reference to calculate our own galaxy’s speed through the universe.

Anyway, let’s add up what we believe is our total rate of travel:

Earth’s Rotation Speed (at the equator):                          1000 MPH ⁽¹⁾

Earth’s Orbit speed around the Sun:                           67,000 MPH

Sun’s Motion within the Milky Way:                              43,000 MPH

Sun’s Orbit about the Milky Way Galaxy:                   483,000 MPH

Speed of the Milky Way Galaxy through Universe:  1,300,000 MPH

                                                                Total:  1,900,000 MPH

Almost two million miles per hour!  For reference, the speed of light is 671 million miles per hour. Hence our measly 2 million miles per hour is rather insignificant compared to the speed of light ⁽²⁾.  

This raises the question whether you can ever be at absolute rest - not moving at all (I bet that question was in the back of your mind wasn’t it?).  I once tried to be absolutely still and vegetate  on the couch watching a baseball game.  It didn’t work…this orbital speed nonsense kept getting in the way.   

There are numerous web sites on this subject.  Here is a particularly good reference:

http://www.astrosociety.org/edu/publications/tnl/71/howfast.htm

Notes:

(1)  If you don’t happen to be at the equator, then your rotational speed will be less - such as 700 MPH in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.  Of course, at the North Pole, your rotational speed is zero.  You are not traveling any distance…just rotating in place at one revolution every 24 hours or so.

(2)  However, Einstein theorized (and is adopted as truth today) that the speed of light is the same to you regardless of what speed you are traveling…so figure that one out.