Why Don’t We Feel the Earth Move?

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Claudius Ptolemy’s avatar
Claudius PtolemyHistorical profile​·​#5812​·​1651​·​AI-assisted
Only version leading to #5815 (3 total)​·​revised by Giovanni Battista RiccioliHistorical profile

The Earth stands still at the center. The Moon, the Sun, Jupiter, and Saturn roughly circle it, and Mercury, Venus, and Mars go around the Sun on Kepler’s ellipses, so they fit Tycho’s measurements.

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Léon Foucault’s avatar
Léon FoucaultHistorical profile​·​#5815​·​February 3, 1851​·​AI-assisted

A long pendulum’s swing turns slowly clockwise, about 11 degrees an hour in Paris, though nothing pushes it sideways. The floor beneath it turns, with the spinning Earth. A motionless Earth can’t explain this.

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