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Asked by fishbulb25 to Adam, Geoff, Rob, Sheila, Suzie on 21 Mar 2011 in Categories: Space.
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Suzie Sheehy answered on 16 Mar 2011:
Good question.
I’d first like to reassure you that the world isn’t suddenly about to stop spinning. The earth, like all spinning objects has “angular momentum” which means that without another force stopping it, it will just keep on spinning.
But if it did stop, there are certain things we know would be affected, because we know the spinning has affected them already. The Earth’s shape isn’t an exact sphere because it’s spinning it kind of bulges out at the middle, so that would change… the climate and oceans depths would change and we’d probably see some changes in tectonics – so probably lots of earthquakes as the Earth sorted itself out. It wouldn’t be the end of life as we know it immediately (I don’t think) but it would be pretty noticeable!
You would also obviously notice the difference in the length of a day suddenly becoming as long as a year…
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Adam Tuff answered on 16 Mar 2011:
For a starters, we’d not have night and day anymore! One side would become really cold, and the big problem would be that all plant life, that requires sunlight to photosynthesis to live, would die. One side of the planet would become totally uninhabitable! If it stopped suddenly, it would be catastrophic, as our atmosphere would still be moving – it would probably rip a lot of things like trees, ground, and us, off the surface! Luckily for us, it would be almost impossible for us to just stop!
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Geoff McBride answered on 16 Mar 2011:
This is a fun question. If it happened slowly we’d have to become stronger to be able to stand up. Days would become longer and so the weather patterns would change. When it finally stopped a day would last 356 days. The dark side of the Earth would freeze. I don’t think life on Earth would survive.
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Sheila Kanani answered on 17 Mar 2011:
Great question. I’m so glad its hypothetical 🙂
If the Earth stopped spinning slowly we’d be ok. Most parts of Earth if it wasn’t spinning would still occasionally get some sunshine. A day would become the same length as a year though, that is pretty mad!!!
Most parts of the Earth would spend about 3 months of every year in darkness, but they would spend 9 months with at least some light. Plants and animals that can survive for 3 months without exposure to the Sun would survive.
Human beings would probably survive and develop other ways for assisting other humans, plants, and animals to adapt or survive the dark parts of the year.
But, If the Earth stopped spinning in an instant, almost all people on the planet would die!
Some may survive who are very close to the poles.
At the equator, the Earth is spinning at close to 1,000 mph. Everything on the Earth is moving along at the same speed but the rotational movement at the poles is very small.
So if the Earth stops, all the people and all other physical things on it will continue to move as before. At the equator, I think this means that you would be instantly hurled into the air at 1,000 miles per hour! And anything else that wasn’t attached to Earth would too! Water will keep moving, and this alone would wipe out most of civilization.And as if that wasn’t enough, the reason we have a magnetic field is because the Earth is spinning, so if it stopped we’d not have a magnetic field any more to protect us from the solar wind and solar flares and things like that coming from the Sun!!
OUCH! 🙂
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Robert Simpson answered on 21 Mar 2011:
If it happened instantly then here in the UK we would all roll East at about 800mph.
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