# How fast does the Earth rotate?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-does-the-earth-rotate/121547>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 30, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-does-the-earth-rotate/121547 "2002-07-30T16:29:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-does-the-earth-rotate/121547/21 "2002-07-31T18:28:09Z")

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Bit of a tangent, but I’ll sum up. We don’t know whether the Universe is finite or infinite, but current evidence is pointing towards infinite. Either way, there’s still no center. The easiest way to make it finite is to give it spherical geometry, which is like the surface of a balloon, except up a few dimensions (if you can’t get your brain around that, don’t worry too much). One can imagine an absolute center, but there’s no need to suppose that such a “point” exists, and if it does, it would be outside of the Universe.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-does-the-earth-rotate/121547/22 "2002-08-01T07:58:32Z")

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I suppose it also depends on what we define as “center” anyhow. But if we don’t have spherical geometry to work with, then I suppose the conecpt is invalid. But I do love that final thought: If the universe has a center it would be outside the universe. [stoned]Dude, that’s like so heavy, man.[/stoned] 🙂

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