Sitting on a park bench and reading a book on a calm, spring day, one might relish the peace and stillness. But they would be mistaken.
The bench and its patron are firmly held to the Earth which, itself, is rotating at 1000 miles per hour. At the same time, our planet is hurtling through space at 67,000 miles per hour, on its annual journey around the sun. Not to be out done, our home star is circling the center of the Milky Way Galaxy at 486,000 miles per hour, taking about 225 million years to complete its circuit.
Of course, we Earthlings are oblivious to all of this motion, tied to the planet by the force of gravity. Only the spring breeze, moving through our protective atmospheric envelope, hints at the natural forces that govern our lives.
