Question

differentiate between rotation and revolution

Answer 1

People often get confused between the terms “rotation” and “revolution.” Here we are about to discuss the concepts of rotation and revolution in relation to Earth.



It is important to understand the difference between rotations and revolutions. When an object turns around an internal axis (like the Earth turns around its axis) it is called a rotation. When an object circles an external axis (like the Earth circles the sun) it is called a revolution.

A rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. If a three-dimensional object like earth, moon and other planets always rotates around an imaginary line called a rotation axis. The axis passes through the body’s center of mass, the body is said to rotate upon itself or spin.

While, revolution is often used as a synonym for rotation. But in many fields like astronomy and its related subjects, the revolution is referred as orbital revolution. It is used when one body moves around another while rotation is used to mean the movement around the axis. For example: Moon revolve around the Earth, and the Earth revolve around the Sun.

Answer 2

A rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. A three-dimensional object can always be rotated around an infinite number of imaginary lines called rotation axes.