Speed of the Earth |
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Speed of the Earth™ is a large-scale light sculpture installation that depicts the speed of the earth's rotation on its axis, in full scale and in real time. Creating the illusion of a 600-foot long meteor of light racing east to west at over 700 miles per hour, the installation creates an exhilarating experience of speed and beauty, while making visceral and concrete the concept of relative motion and the perception of the earth's rotation. The meteor is created by a ball of light that rockets westward at the same speed that the Earth is spinning eastward. This in essence makes the ball a stationary point of light, fixed in space relative to the sun. It is we, the viewers, standing on a spinning earth, who are in fact racing past that stationary, floating ball of light, as the earth's surface races eastward beneath it. The sculpture creates an experience of speed and relative motion never before realized. |