what would happen if the Earth stopped rotating - would it affect gravity?

Answer 1

Funny that most of the responses ignored the gist of your question, which is "what would happen" if the Earth were to cease its rotation. Since everyone touched upon "gravity", I shall offer my two cents and then cover the areas the others neglected:

The force gravity exerts upon the earth wouldn't be affected, however the perceived force may be noticed by humans you might feel "heavier" or "lighter" depending upon where you are at the time of the end of rotation. (the change is probably imperceptible, but if people claim they can hear ghosts, you never know)

However, there are a few things that would happen which were not considered by the previous responses:

If the earth were to stop rotation, everything, including our atmosphere, would continue to rotate.

Think of it like sitting on a bus or a train going 100 miles per hour, and then the vehicle abruptly stops. You have to resist the force of inertia, which is what causes you to keep moving in the direction you were travelling. Same thing happens with the Earth, only in this case instead of 100 miles per hour, we'd be going approx. 1000 miles per hour. Anything not attached to the Earth (this includes the water) would get swept up and flying off into the air into a big violent mess until gravity and friction slows everything down and the "dust settles".

Secondly, one side of the Earth (the side facing the sun) would become extremely hot and the opposite side would become extremely cold.

This difference in temperature would create violent winds and could possibly generate some pretty large storms.

The magnetic field generated by the Earth's rotation would also degenerate, and the Northern Lights would cease to exist. The Van Allen Radiation Belts may cease to exist, and as such we lose the protection they offer.

Finally, the amount of force it would take to stop the rotation and absorb the intertia of the Earth would need to be so great that the Earth itself would break apart, although gravity would cause the "pieces" to fall back together again.

Answer 2

If the Earth stopped rotating, gravity would not be affected. The force of gravity depends on the mass of the Earth, the mass of the object attracted to it, and the square of the distance between them. However, a lot of other things would be affected, such as the length of our day, the tides, and the prevailing winds. Any sudden change in the Earth's rotational momentum is extremely unlikely today. But geologists have detected that the Earth's rotation is very, very gradually slowing down. This is due to the friction of the tides on the surface of the earth, and the result is that the length of our day increases at a rate of about 0.002 seconds per century!

Answer 3

Gravity does not derive from the spinning of the Earth. Earth's spinning is just the result of conservation of angular momentum. The stuff it was made out of wasn't all traveling in the same direction when the pileup occurred that made our Earth and Moon. Since there is no mechanism to stop the Earth's rotation that would let us live, we'd know it immediately (if briefly) when it happened. Either the oceans or the air would continue trying to move at ~1000mph, or the giant impactor that happens to cancel our Earths rotation would sling the outer crust of the Earth into space for a bit.

Answer 4

No, gravity has nothing to do with rotation. It is a fundamental force like electromagnetism and the two nuclear forces. However, because at the equator rotation produces a slight 'anti-gravity' effect making a 100 kilogram human slightly lighter by a few grams. If the Earth stopped rotating, objects would weigh exactly the same at all points on the Earth as you would calculate from only their gravitational forces alone. A 200-ton building at the equator weighs several pounds less than it would at the north pole.

Answer 5

Yes but its effect will be very low, the gravity at equater will equal to that of poles since centrifugal force of rotation causes everything to be pushed away from earth but gravity holds it together. The effect of centrifugal force is more on equator but change due to stopping of rotation will be around +0.2g not a big effect as bieng considered on jupiter.

Answer 6

Only a little bit and more at the equator than at the poles. Gravity is a function of mass. At the equator, the centrifugal force would be greater than at the poles, but not by much. On Jupiter, though, it might be a different story. Of course, Jupiter doesn't have a surface, but the principle still holds. It's why the planet looks oblate: more expanded at the equator. Same with Saturn. They both spin very fast for their size.

Answer 7

Gravity depands on the mass of earth; so even if earth stops rotating it's won't affect on gravity.

But it certainly affect on Day-Nights.

Answer 8

Absolutelly. The feeling of gravity is the sum of the attracting force due to the earth's mass and the centrifugal force due to rotation. So the overall gravitational force would be increased all over earth (well, except the two poles)

Answer 9

may be not.

because there is no connection to EARTHs rotation and

EARTHs gravity.

Answer 10

Yes, the earth's gravitational field will be effectively stronger and so g will be higher.