1. Along with orbiting around the Sun at 66,600 mph, the Earth is also rotating at its axis at about 1,070 miles per hour.
So you are simultaneously hurtling around the Sun at 66,600 mph while sitting on a rock that is spinning at 1,070 mph.
On top of that, our whole solar system is rocketing through space around the center of the Milky Way at around 559,234 mph.
On top of that, our galaxy is hurtling through space at around 671,080 mph, with respect to our local group of galaxies.
On top of that, for all we know, our entire Universe is hurtling through some unknown medium at some other ridiculous speed.
2. Energy
The energy required to stop the Earth orbiting the Sun is about 2.6478 × 1033 joules or 7.3551 × 1029 watt hours or 6.3285*1017megatons of TNT.
For reference, the largest nuclear explosion ever detonated (the Tsar Bomba by the Soviet Union) “only” produced 50 megatons of TNT worth of energy.
So it would take about 12,657,000,000,000,000 of those nuclear bombs detonated at the correct location to stop the Earth from orbiting the Sun.
3. Shape
The Earth isn’t perfectly spherical in shape. The combination of gravitational and centrifugal forces, along with the tilted axis of the Earth have resulted in a bulge of mass around the equator.
Therefore the Earth’s shape is classified as an oblate spheroid or ellipsoid. The polar diameter of the Earth is about 26.7 miles (43 km) shorter than its equatorial diameter causing a difference of about 0.3%.
This very slightly oblate shape affects the weight of an object according to its position on the Earth’s surface.
For example: A 20-lb bag of sand would weigh less at the equator than at the North Pole. This is because the further an object gets from the center of the Earth, the less it weighs.
If the Earth were a perfect sphere, then objects would weigh exactly the same anywhere on Earth.
4. Temperature
The Earth is hottest when it is furthest from the Sun on its orbit, not when it is closest.
During the period when the Earth is furthest from the Sun (aphelion- in July when the Earth is at around 94.8 million miles/ 152.6 million kilometers away from the Sun), the average temperature of the entire planet is about 4°F (2.3°C) higher than when it is closest to the Sun (perihelion- in January when we are at about 91.1 million miles /146.6 million kilometers away from the Sun).
On average, the intensity of sunlight falling on Earth during aphelion is about 7% less than during perihelion. Despite this, the Earth ends up being warmer during the period in which it is furthest away from the Sun.
As you might have guessed then or already known, the seasons are not caused by the distance the Earth is from the Sun, but rather are caused completely by the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis 23.5°. This is why when it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice-verse.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider