Does the Earth Spin Clockwise or Counter-Clockwise?
Last Updated Mar 26, 2020 4:14:58 AM ET
The direction of the rotation of the Earth is dependent on which hemisphere is viewing it. In the Northern Hemisphere the rotation appears counter-clockwise, while from the Southern Hemisphere the spin looks clockwise. This is due to what is called the Coriolis effect.
The Coriolis effect is named after the man who disclosed this phenomenon, Gustave Coriolis, a 19th-century French mathematician. He discovered that the speed of the Earth's rotation is different depending on where a person is standing. If one is standing on the Equator, they are rotating at a slower speed than a person standing at one of the Earth's poles.
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