I ask this on the assumption that no other factor becomes involved that could change rotation speed.And because I am too lazy to do the sums myself and to give 10 points to some poor soul who lusts after them.
2007-07-23 02:29:19 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Sorry Jeremy M but your a wee bit out with your weight. Water weighs more per unit volume of liquid because Ice expands as it freezes and is therefore less dense than liquid water. So in 1 cubic unit of ice there is less mass of H2O than in 1 cubic unit of liquid.
However, if you ignore volume, as it has no effect on weight, 1 kg of water turns into 1 kg of ice. When 1 kg of ice melts it produces 1 kg of water. This is the law of conservation of mass, you can't get more out than you put in. Therefore 1 kg of water as ice or liquid has a weight of ~9.8 N.
This shows that overall the mass (and therefore the weight) of Earth remains constant whether there are icy poles or not. If however this mass of water were redistributed to the equator by the Earths spin, increasing the radius of the planet, I believe this would slow the Earths rotation down in the same way a spinning ice skater put out their arms to slow down and pulls them in to speed up.
Therefore the days length would increase by an infinitesimally small amount.
Do the equation yourself to find the answer.
2007-07-25 01:00:38 · answer #1 · answered by Pliny 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think it would change a little. take the example of a figure skater. she is rotating with her arms by her side . when she extends her arms she rotates slower.
Apply this to the earth if the Ice is concentrated on the axis of rotation then melts the mass is evenly dispersed around the surface of earth.
just like the skater i think the earth will rotate slower.
2007-07-26 22:29:27 · answer #2 · answered by Paddy H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
every day is longer than the last .64mye (Mesozoic period or middle live)the day was 19 hr long .the melting of the ice sheets and the end of this ice age will have no effect on the length of the day. i say this ice age as we are still in one, for most of the earths history there has not been ice at both poles.so we are in a warm stage of a ice age
2007-07-24 08:30:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
People keep saying that mass will stay the same, in which it will. But mass is not weight; water weighs more than ice, and therefore the Earth will weight more when the ice melts. More weight means it's harder for the earth to move (look up laws of physics) - more mass=more force to move that mass. This could make the earth move slower to sustain the new mass.
Geez people, think before looking like smart asses.
2007-07-23 03:53:45 · answer #4 · answered by Kelly M 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Exactly the same as it is now m'love, no longer. The water will have the same mass as the ice that it came from, therefore there will be no effect on the length of the day. I think that's what you meant, rotational speed, there would be no reason for this to change.
2007-07-23 03:16:22 · answer #5 · answered by Downyflake 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What does the phase of the Earth's water have to do with it's rotational velocity? The rotational velocity is an artifact of the momentum of the coalescing material from the primordial solar system. It is damped by gravitational forces (esp. that of the moon), not by whether or not there is ice on Earth.
2007-07-23 02:53:14 · answer #6 · answered by gebobs 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The day won't be any longer, even if all the ice melts, the Earth will continue to spin at the same rate, so the day will remain at about 24hrs. No sums needed !!
2007-07-23 02:38:05 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The day will still be 24hrs long. Time is a man made invention Used as a ways of measurment.
2007-07-23 02:38:36 · answer #8 · answered by Jimi R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
0 minutes. The mass of Ice in the poles will equal the mass of the melted water if it melts... therefore the mass of the earth remains the same and the rotational speed will not change.
Craig
2007-07-23 02:33:49 · answer #9 · answered by Craig A 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
The length of an Earth day is determined by our distance from the sun - nothing to do with the poles.
2007-07-23 02:39:14 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋