Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: Nateman

One of the neat calculations you can do with the Moon is how fast you’d have to travel on its equator to see the Sun sit still, that is the velocity of its spin at its equator. The answer is 10.3 miles per hour which is easy enough to do with a fast walk!

I never thought of it that way. 10 mph is pretty fast. Let’s see, the Moon rotates once on its axis with every orbit around the Earth, keeping the same side facing the Earth. So if you can match the rotation rate, you can stay in the sunlight.
C = πD, where D is the diameter of the Moon.
C = π⋅(2,158) = 6,779.557 miles. C/29.5 = 229.8 miles/day.
229.8/24 hours = 9.58 mph.
You would have to adjust more to the east on the surface of the Moon to account for the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Here, add one additional rotation of the Moon.
C/365.25 days = 18.56 miles/day.
18.56/24 hours = 0.77 mph. 9.58 + 0.77 = 10.35 mph. You are correct.


221 posted on 09/16/2025 4:04:24 AM PDT by thepoodlebites (and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 211 | View Replies ]


To: thepoodlebites

The rotation of the moon around its axis is about fourteen feet per second.

Since the moon has no atmosphere that means if an astronaut jumped for one second the ground would move by fourteen feet beneath them.

That was of course confirmed by all of the NASA videos of Apollo astronauts on the moon.

Lol.


Hint: Somebody is lying.


225 posted on 09/16/2025 6:10:41 AM PDT by cgbg (It was not us. It was them--all along.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson