2. Mass and Density.—The earliest scientific investigation on the density and mass of the Earth (the problem is really single if the volume of the Earth be known) was made by Newton, who, mainly from astronomical considerations, suggested the limiting densities 5 and 6; it is remarkable that this prophetic guess should be realized, the mean value from subsequent researches being about 5½, which gives for the mass the value 6 × 1021 tons. The density of the Earth has been determined by several experimenters within recent years by methods described in the article [Gravitation]; the most probable value is there stated to be 5.527.
3. Astronomical Relations.—The grandest achievements of astronomical science are undoubtedly to be associated with the elucidation of the complex motion of our planet. The notion that the Earth was fixed and immovable at the centre of an immeasurable universe long possessed the minds of men; and we find the illustrious Ptolemy accepting this view in the 2nd century A.D., and rejecting the notion of a rotating Earth—a theory which had been proposed as early as the 5th century B.C. by Philolaus on philosophical grounds, and in the 3rd century B.C. by the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos. He argued that if the Earth rotated then points at the equator had the enormous velocity of about 1000 m. per hour, and as a consequence there should be terrific gales from the east; the fact that there were no such gales invalidated, in his opinion, the theory. The Ptolemaic theory was unchallenged until 1543, in which year the De Revolutionibus orbium Celestium of Copernicus was published. In this work it was shown that the common astronomical phenomena could be more simply explained by regarding the Earth as annually revolving about a fixed Sun, and daily rotating about itself. A clean sweep was made of the geocentric epicyclic motions of the planets which Ptolemy’s theory demanded, and in place there was substituted a procession of planets about the Sun at different distances. The development of the Copernican theory—the corner-stone of modern astronomy—by Johann Kepler and Sir Isaac Newton is treated in the article [Astronomy]: History; here we shall summarily discuss the motions of our planet and its relation to the solar system.
The Earth has two principal motions—revolution about the Sun, rotation about its axis; there are in addition a number of secular motions.
Revolution.—The Earth revolves about the Sun in an elliptical orbit having the Sun at one focus. The plane of the orbit is termed the ecliptic; it is inclined to the Earth’s equator at an angle termed the obliquity, and the points of intersection of the equator and ecliptic are termed the equinoctial points. The major axis of the ellipse is the line of apsides; when the Earth is nearest the Sun it is said to be in perihelion, when farthest it is in aphelion. The mean distance of the Earth from the Sun is a most important astronomical constant, since it is the unit of linear measurement; its value is about 93,000,000 m., and the difference between the perihelion and aphelion distances is about 3,000,000 m. The eccentricity of the orbit is 0.016751. A tabular comparison of the orbital constants of the Earth and the other planets is given in the article [Planet]. The period of revolution with regard to the Sun, or, in other words, the time taken by the Sun apparently to pass from one equinox to the same equinox, is the tropical or equinoctial year; its length is 365 d. 5 hrs. 48 m. 46 secs. It is about 20 minutes shorter than the true or sidereal year, which is the time taken for the Sun apparently to travel from one star to it again. The difference in these two years is due to the secular variation termed precession (see below). A third year is named the anomalistic year, which is the time occupied in the passage from perihelion to perihelion; it is a little longer than the sidereal.
Rotation.—The Earth rotates about an axis terminating at the north and south geographical poles, and perpendicular to the equator; the period of rotation is termed the day (q.v.), of which several kinds are distinguished according to the body or point of reference. The rotation is performed from west to east; this daily rotation occasions the diurnal motion of the celestial sphere, the rising of the Sun and stars in the east and their setting in the west, and also the phenomena of day and night. The inclination of the axis to the ecliptic brings about the presentation of places in different latitudes to the more direct rays of the sun; this is revealed in the variation in the length of daylight with the time of the year, and the phenomena of seasons.
Although the rotation of the Earth was an accepted fact soon after its suggestion by Copernicus, an experimental proof was wanting until 1851, when Foucault performed his celebrated pendulum experiment at the Pantheon, Paris. A pendulum about 200 ft. long, composed of a flexible wire carrying a heavy iron bob, was suspended so as to be free to oscillate in any direction. The bob was provided with a style which passed over a table strewn with fine sand, so that the style traced the direction in which the bob was swinging. It was found that the oscillating pendulum never retraced its path, but at each swing it was apparently deviated to the right, and moreover the deviations in equal times were themselves equal. This means that the floor of the Pantheon was moving, and therefore the Earth was rotating. If the pendulum were swung in the southern hemisphere, the deviation would be to the left; if at the equator it would not deviate, while at the poles the plane of oscillation would traverse a complete circle in 24 hours.
The rotation of the Earth appears to be perfectly uniform, comparisons of the times of transits, eclipses, &c., point to a variation of less than 1⁄100th of a second since the time of Ptolemy. Theoretical investigations on the phenomena of tidal friction point, however, to a retardation, which may to some extent be diminished by the accelerations occasioned by the shrinkage of the globe, and some other factors difficult to evaluate (see [Tide]).
We now proceed to the secular variations.
Precession.—The axis of the earth does not preserve an invariable direction in space, but in a certain time it describes a cone, in much the same manner as the axis of a top spinning out of the vertical. The equator, which preserves approximately the same inclination to the ecliptic (there is a slight variation in the obliquity which we shall mention later), must move so that its intersections with the ecliptic, or equinoctial points, pass in a retrograde direction, i.e. opposite to that of the Earth. This motion is termed the precession of the equinoxes, and was observed by Hipparchus in the 2nd century B.C.; Ptolemy corrected the catalogue of Hipparchus for precession by adding 2° 40′ to the longitudes, the latitudes being unaltered by this motion, which at the present time is 50.26″ annually, the complete circuit being made in about 26,000 years. Owing to precession the signs of the zodiac are traversing paths through the constellations, or, in other words, the constellations are continually shifting with regard to the equinoctial points; at one time the vernal equinox Aries was in the constellations of that name; it is now in Pisces, and will then pass into Aquarius. The pole star, i.e. the star towards which the Earth’s axis points, is also shifting owing to precession; in about 2700 B.C. the Chinese observed α Draconis as the pole star (at present α Ursae minoris occupies this position and will do so until 3500); in 13600 Vega (α Lyrae) the brightest star in the Northern hemisphere, will be nearest.
Precession is the result of the Sun and the Moon’s attraction on the Earth not being a single force through its centre of gravity. If the Earth were a homogeneous sphere the attractions would act through the centre, and such forces would have no effect upon the rotation about the centre of gravity, but the Earth being spheroidal the equatorial band which stands up as it were beyond the surface of a sphere is more strongly attracted, with the result that the axis undergoes a tilting. The precession due to the Sun is termed the solar precession and that due to the Moon the lunar precession; the joint effect (two-thirds of which is due to the Moon) is the luni-solar precession. Solar precession is greatest at the solstices and zero at the equinoxes; the part of luni-solar precession due to the Moon varies with the position of the Moon in its orbit. The obliquity is unchanged by precession (see [Precession of the Equinoxes]).