ChatterBank2 mins ago
Earth stopping spinning
I know this probably is an impossiblility but what would happen if the Earth slowly stopped spinning until it stopped (say over a 3 day period) Would we all float off into space? How would it happen? Would it happen as the Earth slowed down or would it happen when the Earth stopped spinning? If it happened as the Earth was getting slower would the little things like mice and stuff float off before the big things like elephants? Also would we float off slowly or would it be really quickly like falling upwards? Or would we die from lack of oxygen or something first?
Sorry theres so many questions, I was just having a debate with someone yesterday about what would happen should the Earth stop spinning.
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Or look under Science, 27-01-06, 0910, posted by doomey.
Well, everything would weigh more, since gravity would be the same, but there wouldn't be any counteracting centrifugal force that's trying to throw us upward.
I remember reading somewhere that if the world came to a stop, taking one hour to do so, it would be the equivalent of a one-and-a-half ounce sideways pressure at shoulder height. Most people wouldn't notice, until they realised that time seemed to have stopped!
Then there's J.G.Ballard's short story about the Earth's spin having slowed to a crawl, and the ex-pats in West Africa. They're all in a sunny late afternoon, but it's very slowly getting more toward evening. So the whole community is packing up en masse and heading for Brazil. Great tale!
hi everyone
JudgeJ, thanks for the link, I didnt realise it had been asked before.
thanks everyone for your replies, although some of them were way over my head.
My question came about when I said to someone 'Stop the world I wanna get off' to which the reply was 'If the world stops we will all fly off'