We see the sun's light after approx. 8 mins ( we will take it 8 mins and neglect that 32 secs.). That means that we see the sun as what it was 8 mins before. But earth rotates along its axis.

It rotates 2 degrees in 8 mins.

Therefore what we see from the earth is not the actuall position of the sun.

what we see the sunfrom earth should be its position 2 degrees west.

Ain't I right or am I just Confused??????

your just confused, the earths rotation doesn't effect the path the light travels

I never said that the rotation effects the path of light.

I just said that till the light of sun reaches the earths ground, i.e. eight mins, we will be moved 2 degrees.So the position of the sun what we see will be changed relative to our motion.

It think your confusing the difference between rotate and orbit. in 8 min the earth rotates 2 degrees about its axis but only moves .005 degrees in its orbit around the sun.

Yes, that's right. What we see is the position of the sun 8 minutes ago, and that would be affected by our rotation as well as motion along our orbital path.

Therefore what we see from the earth is not the actuall position of the sun.

what we see the sunfrom earth should be its position 2 degrees west.

Ain't I right or am I just Confused??????

True, and if you look at our closest star, about 4 light years from here, the earth will have rotated on it's axis 1460 times before the light reaches us.

This is an interesting feature of relativity. If the sun dissapeared right now we wouldn't know about it for 8 min, so for 8min the earth would be orbiting nothing!!

This is an interesting feature of relativity. If the sun dissapeared right now we wouldn't know about it for 8 min, so for 8min the earth would be orbiting nothing!!

Does gravity travel at the speed of light??

Well that all depends on how fast we would feel the gravitational effects of the sun disappearing. If gravity propogates at the speed of light, then yes, we'd still be orbiting eight minutes after it disappeared. However, several theories suggest that gravity is on another dimension, one that is not bound by our speed limit. If that's true, and gravity propogates FASTER than the speed of light, then the time it took to feel the effects of the sun's disappearance would be less than eight minutes, or it might even be instantaneous.

, or it might even be instantaneous.

Meaning that we'd be heddin' for parts unknown?

To quote the Little Rascals, "I don't know where we're going, but we're on our way!"

"I don't know where we're going, but we're on our way!"

Words and Music by W. R. Williams.....Composer of "America To-Day"

Does gravity travel at the speed of light??

 

That's what GR predicts, and there is evidence that supports it.

That's what GR predicts, and there is evidence that supports it.

I guess that means that under the scenario described above, we'd be flying out of orbit after 8 minutes??? Yes??

You are confused. The amount of sunlight we perceive is too infinitesmal for us to notice.Therefore, time in the light stream does not exist.