What would happen to the earth if it stopped spinning? Would the gravity diappear, would we have atmosphere?

Question

We had this duscussion at work the other day and were trying to guess what would happen. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on this subject, please share them with us.

Answer 1

Well nobody can truly say what ALL of the repercussions would be, due to something called Chaos Theory. But here's the big obvious one:

One side of the earth--the side facing the sun--would be scorched so horribly that after a few years nothing would live. The side away from the earth--the perpetual darkness side--would eventually become far too cold to support life. As a result, only this thin band halfway between the light side and dark side would be habitable. I can't even begin to speculate what the effects on global climate would be, but I suspect it would lead to the total sterilization of all life on Earth, with the exception of microbial life.

An interesting side effect, if the Earth stopped spinning, tornadoes and hurricanes would be impossible. The cyclonic action typical of hurricanes and tornadoes is caused by the Earth's rotation... Makes me wonder what kind of hellish storms we'd have in their stead!

Answer 2

Gravity has absolutely nothing to do with Earth's rotation. Gravity is a function of mass. So, if the Earth were to stop spinning, gravity would still exist.

The rest of this is pure conjecture... It's fun to let the mind wander... But nobody knows for sure what would become of the Earth if it stops rotating.

The atmosphere is held to Earth by gravity. However, we seem to have examples in our solar system -- Mercury, Venus, and Mars -- that might indicate other factors are involved.

As the Earth rotates, it changes the surface that faces the Sun. The energy absorbed by that surface and subsequently released constantly changes the outer surface of the atmosphere impacted by the Sun's rays.

If we stopped spinning, one face of the planet would aways face the Sun. Would the heat from the Sun burn off the atmosphere in that case? If it did, it wouldn't just burn off the atmosphere on that side of the planet. The atmosphere on the other side of the planet would rush in to replace that which was burned away and soon there would be no atmosphere.

Our oxygen is the product of plants. Plants create oxygen by photosynthesis. That requires light. Currently, the chief source of that light is the Sun. If the planet stopped spinning, no plants would exist on the side away from the Sun.

My guess is that the side facing the Sun would be desert-like. The side away from the Sun would be similar to our Antarctica. People would probably move to the temperate region that would be in the twilight. Since 2/3 of the Earth's surface is under water, that might be problematic.

This is a fun thing to think about. But it's not something you need worry about. The Earth's been spinning for a few years now -- and it would take a whole lot to stop it.

It takes light from the sun 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach us. That means the Sun may have been destroyed 20 seconds ago, and we won't know it for 8 minutes. But the Sun's pretty big. It'll take something pretty big to destroy it. I think science would be able to detect something that large. It is theorized that one day the Sun will burn enough of its mass that it's gravity will not be able to hold its corona. The Sun will expand -- probably engulfing the orbit of the planet Earth. As it burns more of its mass, the corona will disappear and all that will be left is an ember called a yellow dwarf. But the Sun will have burned away all atmosphere, all water, all life. All that will be left of Earth will be a big hunk of lifeless rock.

But it will probably still be rotating. And it would still have gravity.

Answer 3

i'm hoping the 5 people who reported we would fall off have been joking. interior the quick term the climate could be horrendous, huge tsunamis, hurricanes etc, interior the long term sooner or later may be the size of a three hundred and sixty 5 days. the daylight hours component of the planet could strengthen into boiling warm together as the evening time component will freeze. life in basic terms would not be accessible. The earth's spin is slowing down already. it is being brought about via the moon. because it circles the earth it is gravity pulls on the water interior the oceans inflicting the tides that are slowly slowing the rotation of the earth. finally the day would be 28 days long. yet this could take an extremely long term.

Answer 4

There would be gravity, a basic charteristic of mass. It would effect the magnetic field, atmospheric circulation, tides, and ocean currents. One side of the earth would be hot, the other cold, changing all habitats on earth, and leading to violent winds.

Answer 5

nothing would happen to gravity, gravity is a causation of mass existing in space time, the immediate effect of the earth stop spinning would be massive earth quakes, tsunamis, and extreme heat and cold, and possbly the moon may loose its orbit. to say the least.

Answer 6

STOP worrying about what u can not control it will just make u old like ME.

Answer 7

We would die of course! god...!