Every planet in our Solar System rotates. Most of them rotate in a sideways motion, one of them rotates from top to bottom instead. However, they all rotate at their own speed. We know rotation means to spin in a circle, without moving to a new place. Just like a basketball spinning on a finger, or a fidget spinner spinning on a tabletop.

Our Earth spins (or rotates) at a speed of 1,040 miles per hour. You don't feel like you are moving at that speed, because you are moving with the Earth. When you ride in a car you can tell about how fast you're going because everything around you is moving by really fast. With the Earth, it's hard to tell you are moving because it is SOOO big that you can't see everything zooming by you that fast.

Due to our Earth's rotation speed and its size, we have a day that lasts 24 hours. It takes the Earth 24 hours to rotate once. So let's think for a minute. If you're traveling in a car at 60 miles per hour, you can get to a place 60 miles away in one hour's time. So if the Earth is traveling at 1,040 miles per hour for 24 hours, that's 24,960 miles. If you were going to travel 24,960 miles in a car, driving 60 miles per hour, it would take you 416 hours!! That's 17 days! What's my point? Well, my point is the Earth's rotation is really fast. The speed at which we rotate is what makes the length of our day. (Length of the day meaning the whole day and night, not just the daytime hours.)

So now it's your turn to think. Answer the questions below sharing your thoughts based on what you read above.