Scientific Data Surah 91 · Ayah 6

OVERVIEW ABOUT EARTH

2. Edwin Hubble, the Expanding Universe, Hubble's Law. Astronomers of the 20th Century

3.How Do We Know Earth Is Round?

Humans have known that Earth is round for more than 2,000 years! The ancient Greeks measured shadows during summer solstice and also calculated Earth's circumference. They used positions of stars and constellations to estimate distances on Earth. They could even see the planet's round shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse. (We still can see this during lunar eclipses.)
Today, scientists use geodesy, which is the science of measuring Earth's shape, gravity and rotation. Geodesy provides accurate measurements that show Earth is round. With GPS and other satellites, scientists can measure Earth's size and shape to within a centimeter. Pictures from space also show Earth is round like the moon.
Even though our planet is a sphere, it is not a perfect sphere. Because of the force caused when Earth rotates, the North and South Poles are slightly flat. Earth's rotation, wobbly motion and other forces are making the planet change shape very slowly, but it is still round.
How Does Earth Move?
Earth orbits the sun once every 365 days, or one year. The shape of its orbit is not quite a perfect circle. It's more like an oval, which causes Earth's distance from the sun to vary during the year. Earth is nearest the sun, or at "perihelion," in January when it's about 91 million miles away. Earth is farthest from the sun, or at "aphelion," in July when it's about 95 million miles away.
At the equator, Earth spins at just over 1,000 miles per hour. Earth makes a full spin around its axis once every 24 hours, or one day. The axis is an imaginary line through the center of the planet from the North Pole to the South Pole. Rather than straight up and down, Earth's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees.
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4. What would happen if Earth stopped spinning?

There is no chance that you'll be flung off to space right now, because the Earth's gravity is so strong compared to its spinning motion. (This latter motion is called centripetal acceleration.) At its strongest point, which is at the equator, centripetal acceleration only counteracts Earth's gravity by about 0.3 percent. In other words, you don't even notice it, although you will weigh slightly less at the equator than at the poles.
NASA says the probability for Earth stopping its spin is "practically zero" for the next few billion years. Theoretically, however, if the Earth did stop moving suddenly, there would be an awful effect. The atmosphere would still be moving at the original speed of the Earth's rotation. This means that everything would be swept off of land, including people, buildings and even trees, topsoil and rocks, NASA added.
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5.What is Earth Science?

Earth Science is the study of the Earth and its neighbors in space. It is an exciting science with many interesting and practical applications. Some Earth scientists use their knowledge of the Earth to locate and develop energy and mineral resources. Others study the impact of human activity on Earth's environment, and design methods to protect the planet. Some use their knowledge about Earth processes such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes to plan communities that will not expose people to these dangerous events.
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6.SHAPE OF THE EARTH IS SPHERICAL

In early times, people believed that the earth was flat. For centuries, men were afraid to venture out too far, for fear of falling off the edge! Sir Francis Drake was the first person who proved that the earth is spherical when he sailed around it in 1597. Consider the following Qur’anic verse regarding the alternation of day and night: “Seest thou not that Allah merges Night into Day and He merges Day into Night?” [Al-Qur’an 31:29] Merging here means that the night slowly and gradually changes to day and vice versa. This phenomenon can only take place if the earth is spherical. If the earth was flat, there would have been a sudden change from night to day and from day to night.

⦁ THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE

In 1925, American astronomer Edwin Hubble, provided observational evidence that all galaxies are moving away from one another, which implies that the universe is expanding. The expansion of the universe is now an established scientific fact. This is what the Qur’an says regarding the nature of the universe: “With power and skill did We construct the Firmament: For it is We Who create the vastness of Space.” [Al-Qur’an 51:47] The Arabic word musioon is correctly translated as ‘expanding it’, and it refers to the creation of the expanding vastness of the universe. One of the greatest astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, in his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’ says, “The discovery that the universe is expanding was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the 20th century.” The Qur’an mentioned the expansion of the universe, before man even learnt to build a telescope! Some may say that the presence of astronomical facts in the Qur’an is not surprising since the Arabs were advanced in the field of astronomy. They are correct in acknowledging the advancement of the Arabs in the field of astronomy. However they fail to realize that the Qur’an was revealed centuries before the Arabs excelled in astronomy. Moreover many of the scientific facts mentioned above, such as the origin of the universe with a Big Bang, were not known to the Arabs even at the peak of their scientific advancement. The scientific facts mentioned in the Qur’an are therefore not due to the Arabs’ advancement in astronomy. Indeed, the reverse is true: they advanced in astronomy, because astronomy occupies a place in the Qur’an.
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