If the Earth stops spinning on itself!?

I could describe the effects in detail...but I don't want to go off at a tangent!

oh - aren't you clever.

Lois Lane died in an accident in Superman I. Our super-hero (who was enloved of her) not only stopped the earth, but made it turn 1 complete turn the opposite way in order to prevent her from having this accident.

Besides this, nothing else happened!

hahah allright.. i think i have my answer!

Here are some thoughts....

If it stopped instantaneously (or near to it), anything not nailed down :-) would continue at the initial speed, but the gravity effects would remain, so we would all slide/tumble until friction won or we hit something that was nailed down - not pleasant either way.

Assuming that the earth did not stop spinning instantaneously (i.e. the rate of spin gradually declined over a number of months/years), days & nights would get longer & longer until one day was as long as it takes the earth to rotate around the sun.

Weather patterns would probably change considerably with the side facing the sun warming the air significantly more than normal & the opposite side being much colder for longer, so you could end up with constant high winds at ground level, particularly at the dawn/dusk point, originating from the center of the dark side & rushing to the center of the sunny side.

The only "tolerable" areas to live (temperature wise) would be around the twilight band - but these would be very windy. As the earth rotated around the sun, this band would move also, leaving us being a very nomadic society.

You would smack the wall and feel a bit dizzy.

LOL ^ n

I hope you didn't take the question that serious.

The sea would form a gigantic tsunami at the west coast and the part that is opposed to the sun would start to boil after some days.

Seroius? Moi? You're 'avin' a Steffi'

(Steffi Graff.....laugh Cockney ryhming slang for the Non Brits),

Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

That is not directly the effect Frau Graff has on me.

The Earth's circumference is roughly 24000 miles, and one rotation takes 24 hours. With an abrupt stop, people living at the equator would smack the wall at about 1000 miles per hour. Ouch.

I doubt the wall is still there by the time you reach it.

I doubt the wall is still there by the time you reach it.

That's a relief!

wow. :d

When in school many years ago i ASKED THE SCIENCE TEACHER THE SAME THING- he said " everything on earth would shoot off into space". to correctly answer this question, I think that why the earth spins, & gravity, has to correctly answered- the former is due to gravity influences acting on the freefall planet from all other free fall bodies of a greater or lesser mass acting over variable distances as the interactances- to answer the latter is something that Science has not been able to- gravity waves are postulated, yet unfound- as an aside, I find it so maddening when a component is inadvertantly dropped & never found again(not when you need it!, but invariably turns up later!).

I don't follow something: "everything would shoot off into space": please explain.

Gravity is what keeps us down here. The spinning only has an effect on the inverse, it wants to push/pull us off but gravity is way stronger so the g wins from G (-force)

I don't think you would achieve escape velocity (18,000 mph) but you would certainly go flying head over heels if the ground below you stopped, and you didn't.

Shoot off into space (in ship) to find a new planet to pollute?

Don't worry the earth revolves on its taxes. If it stops the government will have it running again in no time.

The gravitational field is a result of the gigantic liquid metal core of the planet spinning at such a rate that it produces the magnetic field, which is why we have a north and south pole like a magnet, there are those that have postulated the results of a poler shift as the cause of the Ice age and it's reversal. that in itself was bad enough and there is some proof that it might have happened so quickly that animals froze with partially digested meals in their intestines causing massed extinctions of the dinosaurs and other unfortunate creatures.

It has been theorized that the stoppage of the rotation of the metal core would result in a loss of gravity. Which would cause the loss of the thin layer of breathable content, as it waifed off into space. With out the protective barrier that it affords the cosmic radiation would fry the vegetation, wildlife and turn the water to steam and or freeze it as it became exposed to the void of space. The volcanic eruptions and plate shifts would devastate the globe. Needless to say mankind would become extinct in a matter of days, assuming that it were a gradual slow down of the molten metal cores rotation, a catastrophic sudden stop would cause instantaneous annihilation of all life on the planet as our very own make up requires the magnetic fields to produce the electrical discharges that our bodies need, let alone the exposure to the vacuum of space not being very much fun either.

Wow - it's not often that we see a post where every single statement is incorrect.

kudos.

I stand corrected, a residual magnetic effect would linger because of the retention of the crust materials. But the sudden stoppage of the rotation of the planet would disrupt the surface of the planet causing massive violations of the crust and thus the magnetic fields. A change in polarity would occur, materials involved in electrical process do generally run short or heavy on electrons. This is what having a positive or negative electric charge means; the material is holding more or fewer electrons than normal. If an opportunity exists for electrons to flow from where they are abundant to where they are scarce, you get a current or an spark as electrons make the move. The electric force is an enormously strong one, relative to the size and number of electrons involved. This is why you can see measurable, even very powerful, electrical phenomena without any appreciable change in the physical properties of the materials involved, such as scuffing your feet then touching a grounded surface, a discharge. But this change would reverse the polarity of the of the surrounding electrical field and that of the body's, and would discharge it's electrical field, thusly no electrical, and or greatly reduced, charge is left to operate the bodies necessary functions, causing brain as well muscle function disruptions. As mentioned earlier in another post the Dynamo theory, replenishes and feeds the magnetic fields of the astrophysical bodies. Carl Friedrich Gauss proved that the Earths magnetic field is from internal forces, rather than external. The convection of the molten iron in the outer liquid metal core, along with the over all planetary rotation, in a Coriolis effect, tends to mass these currents, of flowing metal, along a north south polar axis, the induction of these flows create a magnetic field reinforcing the original magnetic fields, a self sustaining dynamo. With the global rotational speed in excess of 1000 miles per hour a sudden stoppage of the rotation would sweep the land masses clean, the atmosphere would be moving so fast anything, but bed rock would be blasted into the atmosphere. The sudden inexplicable stoppage of the rotation of the outer surface being swept clean would change the density profile of the whole planet, weak spots would appear, the oblateness of the planet would change significantly. The seismic waves would cause tsunamis in the metal core perhaps even breaking through the weakened surface areas, near or at the obllatened areas, first. Most of the atmosphere would boil off leaving a destructive fire ball expanding out ward, destroying much in it's path, damaging any remains of an atmosphere. We already have substantial evidence that the Earths poles regularly reverse, in the erupted iron minerals, in lava crystallized along the Earth's magnetic field lines. The rift zones give an excellent history of the Earth's changing magnetic zones. Remains of mastodons and other prehistoric creatures have been found in various regions with undigested food in their stomachs, in in several cases flash frozen with food still in their mouths, the meat still eatable by the people that discovered them. If the "Dynamo" is disrupted in a major manner the protective covering, that blankets the Earth would no longer be in place to block harmful radiation, The sudden and rapid decreases of the metal flow would burst from its confines no longer confined by its weaken container, rupturing the vessel in an irreparable manner. Havoc, destruction, extinction.

Mutant One,thanks for the links- I was eddicated somewhut- BUT NOWHERE IS IT STATED THAT GRAVITY results from magnetic fields- IT DON,T! If we could find out what gravity is other than the attraction of masses to a centre of each mass , we would be able to get a theory of everything- so far defying the greatest minds (human!).

The gravitational field is a result of the gigantic liquid metal core of the planet spinning at such a rate that it produces the magnetic field

Huh?

There are a lot of bodies just in our Solar system that have no liquid metal core. As far as I am aware anything with mass has a gravitational field.

It has been theorized that the stoppage of the rotation of the metal core would result in a loss of gravity. Which would cause the loss of the thin layer of breathable content, as it waifed off into space.

A lot of people have theorized a lot of foolishness without much thought put into it.

Hi Troy36,

From mutantone #15: "It has been theorized that the stoppage of the rotation of the metal core would result in a loss of gravity. Which would cause the loss of the thin layer of breathable content, as it waifed off into space."

You wrote: "A lot of people have theorized a lot of foolishness without much thought put into it."

I couldn't agree with you more!

Regards

-John

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1168.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_theory

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/29dec_magneticfield.htm

http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/dynamos2.htm

it has also been theorized that man ascended from a single cell

Mea Culpa mutantone, I stand a little more educated.

The first three links are almost word for word the same.

The ones from nasa and phy6 regarding the earth's magnetic field were good reading.

However, the last one from curious.astro states:

"Those things [stopping rotation] would probably kill all life and level everything on the Earth's surface!"

Except mosquitos!

-John

It depends on how much of the earth you want to postulate as stopping. If you just reached down with a giant fork (Cutlery of the Gods?) and poked the earth so that it stopped spinning, surely the oceans would spill over their banks in giant tsunamis that would kill much of the land based life. Then the continental plates which are floating on the sea of magma would all continue eastward smashing into each other and causing the mother of all earthquakes. Would the magma itself stop spinning? I guess it would at the area local to the fork, but the rest of the molten core would keep sloshing eastward forming bulges and ripples that would burst into thousands of volcanoes. Same for the atmosphere - howling winds would destroy whatever the tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes missed.

The only survivor would be Santa and Mrs. Claus, who - safe at the North Pole - simply get spun like a top for a few moments, before going outside to scrape all the elf guts off the remains of the sleigh.

This is a whole lot scarier than Global Warming. Why arent the politicians more worried about this??

Now once the sloshing of the oceans slows down, we have to consider old man moon as well. I think we might have problems with more or less permanent high and low tides, depending on where you are. Is this going to be a problem? (somehow bhankii I just have a feeling that all land based, and all other, life would be extinguished long before it had to concern itself with getting out of the way of tsunamis. I could be wrong though).

I remember now. I did make a mistake once but I'm over it.

Lets go back to Guest and his friends and have a couple more beers then we can figger this situation out.

The tides would just be monthly instead of daily, right? The moon is still orbiting around the earth. Of course, it might not matter if one half of the oceans are steam and the other half are ice.

Now, what if you also stopped the moon? Would it fall to the earth?

Hendrick will probably care since he's riding around on that Harley on a moonlit day/night(?) wearing that WWII German spiked helmet.

As for me, Naaah

Hi Johnjohn!

...just wondering about the meaning of the phrase "Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit"

As Spanish is my mother-tongue, I managed to get the meaning of isolated words (without using a translator) Here they go: NON, GREAT, WISDOM / KNOWLEDGE, WITHOUT, MIXTURE / MIXING, MADNESS/DEMENTIA, CONTAINS / IS WITHIN.... but have no clue what the whole sentence means!

Hi r&ddoc,

There is no great genius without a shred of insanity (old Latin proverb).

Cheers

Hi Johnjohn,

I must say "There is no great genius without a shred of insanity " makes a little more sense than my translation:

NON, GREAT, WISDOM / KNOWLEDGE, WITHOUT, MIXTURE / MIXING, MADNESS/DEMENTIA, CONTAINS / IS WITHIN

I will study some Latin in my next reincarnation!

Looks to me like you have the translation pretty much dead on, doc.

Crede quod habes, et habes (believe that you have it, and you have it).

Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementiae fuit. ~ There has not been any great talent without an element of madness.----Seneca

Excellent! Very close.

I like the quote

The eloquence of my oratory overwhelms even me.

John-John, how do you keep the glass of beer(I assume) replenished- & how do you stick your lower lip out so far to catch the manna?; I have to go to the fridge & pour my HB into my glass , & repeat ad infinitum- anyway there is no doubt that it,s good for 1( in moderation of course!!!). Just look at you- a picture of health!.

If it stopped suddenly you would continue to be in motion at approx. 1,000 MPH. Of course you were stopped suddenly by some stationary object, Bet that could make your eyes water.

Are we going to be projected in the air ?? at a tremendous speed and never get back on the ground? is right guess Feel free to contact me (trikhaanmol@yahoo.co.in ) if You want to know WHY?

The heaven will start falling down. we will all wear helmets and drive custom Harley's made by Choppers.

Yea, you will feel it... 24 hours of daylight or dark, depends on which side of earth you were located.

6 month days and nights.

We will have birth seconds instead of birth dates.

The 4 Km deep stream of water flowing at 1500 + Km / hour over the land is much worse.

What about a test.

We should take 2 huge disks and frost fix them onto the poles. If a lot of calipers with F1 brake pads are mounted on the perimeter it should be possible to stop the irritating spinning.

Note: We should not tell the politicians.

If we can somehow attach the F1 calipers to the moon via "strong" cables we might, at least, slow it down a bit. Maybe enough to extrapolate some possibilities!

Frost them onto the poles? Why not that super duck tapes we've been talking about?

I forgot that it had to be tied down to something.

If the cable is rolled around the moon we may have a super size yo yo and a stop-start earth.

Super duct tape - Why spend money when you can get stuck for free?

Have you ever licked a cold surface with your tongue? Don't try this at home.

"If the cable is rolled around the moon we may have a super size yo yo and a stop-start earth"

What a concept! I think we should try it. We can make stopping the earth just a silly idea. Hendrick, my friend, I believe we've got a potential patent in progress.

My lower lip got stuck once (see avatar).

I can probably hold one disc by myself (if I can get my lip on the ground and my tongue on the disc). You'll have to figure out how to secure the other one.

Thanks all for making my day a little funnier.

I was wondering though, depending on where your caliper clamps the disk, couldn't you end up with some problems with the rotational movement being turned into linear movement and flinging the whole planet into another galaxy?

Hi AragornElessar86,

That, of course, has been a major concern for all of us. At first we considered running the cable to Andromeda. However, we decided that with such a long cable its extreme mass and resulting gravitational effect which would, of course, be directed linearly along the cable's length and would result in exactly the situation you describe.

Our engineering department felt that by using the moon we kill two birds with one stone: 1) we keep the cost of the cable down (keeps management happy) and 2) the resulting reduction in mass and gravity of the cable will allow the yo-yo effect that Hendrick has suggested.

Cheers

Try an experiment. Use a large ball, stick something to it with just enough stick to not fall off. Spin the ball at different speeds then stop it. See what happens.

Since we are in effect traveling at 1000 mph +-, if the earth stopped suddenly we would all die, if the impact did not get you the tumbling and road rash would. Gravity is based on mass of the object.

Sure enough! I fell off of the ball. I don't think the gravity of the ball had as much to do with it as me just getting dizzy.