if every car on the planet faced the same way and spun its wheels, would the earths rotation speed up?

Answer 1

Yes. Very slightly. If the cars all faced west and actually drove west, not just sitting in place spinning their wheels. If they faced east, it would slow down. Technically, this is true if even one car does that. Or even one ant. But all the cars in the world doing it at the same time would still make such a small difference that we probably couldn't measure it even with the best instruments. And the increased speed would all be lost when the cars slowed to a stop again.

Answer 2

Hypothetically of course, If they all faced West it would speed up, and if they all faced East, it would slow down. Of course with the mass of the Earth compared to the mass of all of the cars, you still would not be able to measure the difference. And once all of the cars stopped, the rotation would go right back to normal.

This whole thing would occur because of Newton's Third Law. (For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.)

Answer 3

dont think so. just thinking logically, if this was true, then, if everyone pushed the ground with thier hands, then would we all crush the earth? nope. the earth's mass is way too gi-noumous for even every car on earth to make a difference in it's rotation. maybe if all the cars were linked together, in a way that they all pushed, and pulled each other, then, maybe something might, happen, but since they are all free moving, they probably would have no effect, other than wasting a astronomical amount of gas.

Answer 4

The earth rotates to the "east". So the earth would only speed up if these cars were facing west perpendicular to the earth's tilt and were actually moving not skidding. The earth would like wise slow don if they were all driving the opposite direction!

Answer 5

For a spinning object, there is a thing called conservation of angular momentum. If all cars started moving in the opposite direction to the spin, yes the Earth would speed up a tiny bit. It would return to normal when they stopped. However, if they were merely spinning their wheels, the cars' masses wouldn't be moving, so there would be no effect.

Answer 6

Yes. As I learned in my college physics class, when we walk, we actually move the Earth itself. The degree we move it is less than an atom - it's negligible. But, if all the cars were to do that in one direction, the Earth would speed up.

Answer 7

No. Two reasons. The mass of the earth is so great the effect would be negligible. Even if the effect was there when the cars applied their brakes the energy would be returned.
RoyS

Answer 8

depends on which direction they all faced, and of course, when these cars have to stop or even change direction, the reverse effect will occur.
since the mass of all cars in the world is something like 1000000000 kg, the effect on earth will be insignificant, since earth is some much heavier.

Answer 9

And if the Earth sped up enough would we all start lifting off the ground as centrifugal force overcame gravity? Sounds fun! Might get a bit dizzy after a while, though.

Answer 10

I have absolutely no idea, but I have to say that yours is the most outstanding question I have ever encountered. I still like this one though:

If you drove your car at the speed of light, and turned your headlights on....would anything happen?

Cheers!