As you are reading this post, this very moment, you are in motion. You are not only moving but doing so at a very high speed. To observe such movement, you need to look things at cosmic level.The rotation of earth on its axis, revolution of earth around sun and movement of sun in our galaxy, all contribute to this speed. But we don't notice it because speed is something which is relative. Suppose, you and your friend are sitting in a moving car and you look at a person standing on a footpath. Then you are moving at some speed with respect to that man but you and your friend are stationary with respect to each other. So, to calculate speed, we always need to take some reference as stationary. Let us start looking at various motions that we are part of.
Rotation of earth on its axis- The circumference of earth at equator is around 40,000 kilometers and earth completes one rotation on its axis in around 24 hours. So, speed due to this rotation comes out to be around 500 m/sec. This is 47% more then the speed of sound in air. If you fly at this speed then you will reach Beijing from New Delhi in about 2 hours.
Revolution of earth around sun- Earth covers a distance of around 149.5 million kilometers around the sun in a year. Speed of earth because of this motion comes out to be around 30 km/sec. If you fly at this speed then you will reach Beijing from New Delhi in about 2 minutes.
Movement of sun in our galaxy- Our sun and other stars in our galaxy are also not stationary. According to estimates, sun's speed is around 200 km/sec as it moves through the milky way. If you fly at this speed then you will reach Beijing from New Delhi in about 19 seconds.
Movement of our galaxy in space- According to estimates, the milky way galaxy is moving at an approximate velocity of 600 km/sec with respect to extra-galactic frames of reference. If you fly at this speed then you will reach Beijing from New Delhi in about 6.3 seconds.
Next time you watch a movie with speedy car chases and actors boasting about their car's high speeds, just remember that it is nothing when compared to the very very high speed at which you are already traveling. We know now that we all are pretty fast and furious.
Links and sources-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/how-fast-are-we-moving-through-space-985bf470378d#.5wv8xef15
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