Types of Earth's Movement
There are two types of movement of earth: Earth's Rotation and Earth's Revolution.
1. Earth's rotation
Earth's rotation is the rotation of the planet Earth around its own axis. The Earth rotates towards the East. If we look down at the Earth's North Pole from space we can notice that the direction of rotation is counter-clockwise. One rotation completes in 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds.
2. Earth's Revolution
The other motion of Earth is around the Sun. It is called as Revolution of the Earth. Earth completes one complete revolution around the Sun in 365 days, 5 hours, 45 minutes and 46 seconds. The path which Earth takes around the Sun is called Earth’s Orbit. The Earth's orbit around the Sun is not circular, but oval or elliptical.
Effects of Earth’s Movements:
1. Days and Nights
The Earth’s rotation is responsible for the daily cycles of day and night. The portion of Earth, which is within the circle of illumination caused by the rays of sun, has its day. The other side of earth, which is away from Sun, remains dark and therefore has its night.
2. Change of Seasons
The change of Seasons occurs by the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. As the sun rays fall vertically and for a longer period in the Northern Hemisphere, there will be summer. But in the Southern Hemisphere it will be winter.
In Southern Hemisphere the conditions become reversed in November, December and January. There will be summer in Southern Hemisphere and winter in Northern Hemisphere.