Only by the Master’s Hand - Part One

     Has anyone heard of a phenomenon described as the “Radial Expansion of a Spinning Object?”  If not, then, what happens when you tie a string to an object and then spin it around?  Of course we all know that it tends to pull outward.  If you have ever ridden on the spinning wheel at an amusement park, then you could fully understand this affect.  As the wheel turns ever faster, your body is steadily and progressively plastered ever tighter to the side wall of the wheel.  Actually, the only thing keeping you from flying off of the ride to certain death is that wall.  A spinning object wants to expand outward and everything on that object will expand outward as well. 

     The earth, as a spinning object, is not immune from the affects of radial expansion.  It spins on its axis, West to East, at approximately 1035 miles per hour at the equator where its circumference is 24855 miles.  In other words, by traveling at 24855 miles in 24 hours, one revolution of the earth, the ground at that location is moving at 1035 miles per hour.

     Because of the spherical nature of the earth, at any given point between the equator and its northern or southern axis (the poles), the rotational speed, at that given point, will be smaller than at the equator because the distance traveled per one revolution of the earth will be smaller.  Consider the following chart.  The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24855 thousand miles.  The circumference of the earth at Columbus, Ohio is 19014 miles.  Therefore, in Columbus, in order to travel 19014 miles in 24 hours, the earth at that location is spinning at 792 miles per hour.

      As previously stated, when an object spins, its radius tends to want to expand outward.  At the amusement park, a person on the spinning wheel will have a tendency to want to fly outwardly off of the object in direct proportion to the speed at which the wheel is spinning.  Conversely, the slower it goes, the more the person will settle toward the surface.  On earth, there is a maintained balance between the spin and gravity where objects neither tend to fling off of the surface due to centrifugal activity nor do they get crushed into the earth because of the lack of spin which would magnify the effects felt from gravity. 

     Using the equator as an example location, an object lifting straight off of the ground has no additional tendency to fly outward off of the earth than an object sitting on the ground.  However, if the object then flies east, which would add to its already rotational speed of 1035 miles per hour, it then will feel the effect of the centrifugal forces wanting to expand its radius.  Therefore, an object flying east will have a tendency to lift. 

     Conversely, an object lifting off from the earth traveling west will slow down from its 1035 mile an hour rotational speed.  The centrifugal balance that keeps the object at a given point in altitude will have changed negatively and the object will have a tendency to drop because the affects of gravity will be greater.  Therefore, objects traveling east will have a tendency to rise and objects traveling west will have a tendency to drop.

     As you can see, as a person travels east or west, by flight, the affects of radial expansion can be clearly felt.  However, traveling north or south, one may never actually guess by any outward stimuli that the affects are even more remarkable and truly astonishing.  This is where the incredible balance between gravity, centrifugal forces and the mass/density of the earth is nothing less than extraordinary.

     What happens to your body as you hike in a northern direction for many miles?  Nothing.  Yet, as we learned earlier, as you travel toward one of the earth’s poles, your rotational speed will steadily drop.  Since you are decreasing your tendency to want to vertically fly off of the planet, shouldn’t you now feel the greater affects of gravity wanting to drive you into the ground?  Of course.  But why are we not all crushed like bugs as we travel north or south from the equator?  The incredible thing is, the earth itself compensates by way of a steady change in density in order to keep the affects of gravity in perfect balance with the earth’s rotational speed throughout the entire sphere. 

     The mass of the earth becomes increasingly less dense from the equator to the northern and southern poles.  The earth actually becomes less compact.  Picture three buckets containing three substances of varying mass.  One bucket contains one complete chunk of solid rock (analogous of the earth nearing the equator).  The Second bucket is filled with loose gravel (analogous of earth between equator and axis).  The third bucket is filled with sand (analogous of earth at poles).  Each bucket is full yet each filler has a mass/density quite different from the other.   

     The whole planet is so finely tuned in its design that it continually maintains a perfect balance between outrageous and violent forces in order for it to very easily and quite comfortably sustain life such as human kind.  This is nothing short of amazing and the probabilities of this occurrence happening by chance is infinitesimal. 

     The earth was specifically engineered to sustain life.  It was designed with mankind in mind.  Everything about its makeup - geological, atmospheric, tilt, rotation, mass, etc., was divinely crafted for our benefit.  Our entire solar system operates with such precision that even the slightest deviation from the norms would make this planet uninhabitable.  One cannot even begin to calculate the probabilities of such a masterpiece as our very own planet earth. 

God's Trust 

How beautiful God's eyes must be to have master pieced this world of wonder and beauty. 

How powerful yet sweet the voice that formed all of the heavens and earth. 

How gentle and loving His hands must be to have sculpted the faces of all his children. 

How the radiance of His countenance must have glowed throughout all the heavens as He observed the beauty of His creation.  

   With all the awesomeness of the universe that  is entrusted unto His loving care, He still adamantly pleads for each one of us to rely steadfastly upon Him for all the needs of our hearts and lives.                  

   All He really wants is for us to wholly place our trust in Him in everyway.  To willingly stay in His sight, relaxing in the comfort of His embrace and ever listening to His voice.    

Stay in God's Trust. 

© 1991 G. R. Workman   

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). 

Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:1–2). 

© 2015 G. R. Workman 

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