At the latitude of the Grafenegg in Lower Austria, the Earth’s surface is spinning through space at 1,108 Km/h – racing towards the eastern horizon in order in complete one rotation every 24 hours. Earth-Spin no.1: Grafenegg is a simple annotation of this speed upon the planet itself. Cut into the earth in figures two meters high and 50cm deep, the earthwork stretched 17m across the closely cropped lawn in the dry moat of Grafenegg castle. The intervention spells out the speed of spin at this exact latitude and marks the direction of spin with a long arrow. Through this simple action, the viewer’s perspective is altered – reminded that the seemingly still and stable grounds of an Austrian castle are actually moving at great speed through the blackness of space.
To Calculate the speed of the Earth’s Surface:
The latitude of Grafenegg = North 48º25’47.79″
or in decimal: 48.42972222222222
At the equator, the circumference of the Earth is 40,070 Km
The day is 24 hours long.
Therefor the speed of the surface at the equator is 40,070 / 24 = 1670 Kilometers/hour.
This speed then decreases as you travel north or south by the cosine of your latitude.
Therefor for Grafenegg:
Latitude = 48.42972222222222
cosine(48.42972222222222) = 0.663538202600502
0.663538202600502 x 1670 = 1108.10879834283767 Km/h
Or more simply put, the speed of Earth’s Surface at Grafennegg = 1108 Km/h