Would the people on the sides and bottom fall off?
2007-04-05 02:31:31 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If you were standing at the equator in a suitably large flat area, and the earth stopped spinning in an instant, then you would speed off to the east at an initial speed of 1050 miles/hour relative to the ground. (That's the approximate rotational speed at the surface at the equator; which you and the ground would share immediately before the earth stopped rotating; when the earth stopped you would keep going in the same direction.)
You would be going along the earth's surface, but because the earth is curved, its surface falls away from you as you travel. Conversely, gravity continues to pull you toward the surface. Three miles out, the earth's surface would be about 6 feet below your straight-line flight path, and it would take you about 11 seconds to go that far. Under the force of gravity you would take less than 1/2 second to fall six feet, so you wouldn't go flying into space.
You would warm up very fast from the air friction (look for references to how hot the nose of the Concorde got when it was flying faster than sound), but air friction would also slow you down. The main factor slowing you down (and possibly setting your clothes on fire) would be ground friction: imagine rolling along the ground at the speed of sound.
2007-04-05 05:05:23 · answer #1 · answered by Isaac Laquedem 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. Gravity on Earth comes from the weight (mass) of the planet......not the spinning.
2007-04-05 14:13:01 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the earth's gravity does not pull south, but to the core. Also if the gravity of the earth pulled south, how would spinning help?
2007-04-05 10:31:00 · answer #3 · answered by chase 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, if you stand at the north pole and jumped, you would come back down to the ground. Your weight (gravity) is the measure of what holds you down, and you don't weigh much different on the equator which is spinning very fast, and at the pole which is not spinning. Nor would we be crushed. What would happen is our atmosphere would burn, water would evaporate, and we would fry.
2007-04-05 13:09:01 · answer #4 · answered by John B 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, we are held to the earth by gravity, not by the spinning.
2007-04-05 09:34:28 · answer #5 · answered by ♥Tom♥ 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋
No Gravity pulls us to the center of the earth.
2007-04-05 09:40:50 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
No they would not, it is the force of gravity that draws all to the earth. If the earth stopped spinning, there would probably be MASSIVE METEROLOGICAL CHAOS however.
2007-04-05 09:39:54 · answer #7 · answered by Lalala 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
technically no ((but if they were on the equator they will fall because the velocity is more than the escape velocity ))but the earth has some plates maybe they where decompose and people falls out
2007-04-05 09:55:07 · answer #8 · answered by suerena 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There is no bottom.
The planet will still have gravity, just like the moon although we only get to see one side of it. (Hence the saying "dark side of the moon.")
2007-04-05 09:58:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hopefully if it did happen, I would hope God would catch me because it would be my end of life. He will be the only one that can save me and you. So the question is what happens to you when you quit ticking? Where do you think you will go? The Earth is on its way out and if you believe in science you know it is true. I also believe in science but with a Supreme being named God.
2007-04-05 09:53:01 · answer #10 · answered by hot wheels 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋