Friday, May 18, 2007

My Siddur's Pages vs. The Earth's Rotation


During Shacharis this morning, I noticed that the pages of my sidur did not fall to the floor. Looking back, the only reason why this is surprising is that 3 pages from my sidur, in the Psukei D'Zimra section, are detached from the sidur. Add to that the fact that my sidur was perched at a 45 degree angle on a shtender-like support in front of me, and one could understand why they might have fallen. I reasoned that the explanation why the pages weren't falling is because of the surface tension between the pages that were attached and the pages that were not attached. Although any slight movement would have caused them to fall, everything was very still, and so nothing shook them from their place.

This got me to thinking afterward; Why were things so still? My spot on the surface of the earth is traveling at 25,000 miles per hour, due to the earth's rotation. Not only that, my spot on the earth is traveling at 67,000 miles per hour around the sun, in a totally different direction than the earth's rotation. This made me sit back in amazement. How is it that I can be traveling at 25,000 miles per hour in one direction and 67,000 miles in another direction, and that travel is so incredibly smooth, that one cannot feel even the slightest tremor, and even the loose pages of a sidur, resting at an angle, do not fall due to that movement.

מָה-רַבּוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ, יְהוָה-- כֻּלָּם, בְּחָכְמָה עָשִׂיתָ;
מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ, קִנְיָנֶךָ! - How wonderous are Your works Hashem, You have made them all with wisdom. The whole world is filled with your creations! (Tehilim 104:24)

-Dixie Yid

Top of the Earth's Atmosphere


(Pictures courtesy of Nasa Earth Observatory)

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