If the earth stopped spinning, would we feel noticeably heavier?

Question

Since the earth is spinning there is a part of the force of gravity that is used for the centripetal force.

If we stopped spinning i would assume we would feel heavier. Would we notice it?

Answer 1

earth radius = 6378135m
equator surface velocity = 2*pi*r/24hours = 463.83m/s
equator centripetal acceleration = v^2/r = 0.003373m/s^2
This is less than half of one percent of the acceleration due to gravity, 9.8m/s^2, so no, we would not likely notice if that force disappeared. Note, however, that the small force does distort the landmasses and oceans by a significant amount. If the earth stopped spinning, sea levels would drop near the equator, and rise near the poles, causing drastic changes to the coastline.
The spin of the earth also influences formation of weather patterns and perpetuates the jet stream. If the earth stopped spinning, it is probable that global climate would be severely altered.

Answer 2

The earth is spinning at a rate of 1000 miles on hour. So imagine being in a car traveling at 1000 miles per hour and then just stop. Due you think you will still be in your seat. If the Earth just stopped spinning I mean now stop. anything standing would fall down so hard it would slide on the surface of the earth. The oceans would cover the land in a heart beat and drown any thing that's still alive. if fact there would be no land the water would cover the planet. Right now the earth is spinning that causes to have a shape like on egg. At the equator the water is 20 kilometers higher do to centrifugal force. If the earth stopped spinning the 20 kilometers of water would reshape into a circle, causing the flooding of all land mass. The water would budge where the moon is do to the gravity of the moon pulling on the earth. Some people say you would just float off into space. Gravity will keep everything right where it is. The earth spinning does not create gravity. Gravity is created due to the mass of the earth.

Answer 3

the likelihood for this actually happening in the next few hundred millions years is just about zero. But we can still speculate on what would happen anyway.

Earth is rotating at a speed of about 1100 miles per hour. If our planet suddenly stopped rotating, the atmosphere would still be in motion at that speed. The atmosphere would be moving so fast it would literally sweep the land masses clear of anything not anchored to bedrock, this would mean rocks, soil, trees, buildings, people and animals. All would be swept up into the atmosphere.

If the Earth's rotation slowed down gradually over millions of years, and this is the most likely scenario, it would be a very different story. If the Earth slowed down to one rotation every year, called synchronous rotation, every area on Earth would be in either sunlight or darkness for one year. This would be similar to what the Moon goes through where for two weeks the front side of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun followed by the front side being in darkness for two weeks.

if the Earth stopped rotating completely? In that case, one half the Earth would be in daylight for half the year while the other side would be in darkness. The second half of the year it would be reversed. Temperature variations would be far more extreme then they are now. The temperature gradient would affect the wind circulation also. Air would move from the equator to the poles rather then in wind systems parallel to the equator as they are now.
the Sun's position in the sky. In the above scenario, Sun would just have a seasonal motion up and down the sky towards the south due to the orbit of the Earth and its axial tilt. You would see the elevation of the Sun increase or decrease in the sky just as we now see the elevation of the Sun change from a single point on the Earth due to the Earth's daily rotation.

Answer 4

If the earth stopped spinning, we would feel infinitesimally heavier. To see that image a 2D earth, or a disk, spinning. If you placed an object on the disk while spinning, it would tend to throw the object off. That is, there would be a tendency for the object to move perpendicular to the edge away from the center. Applying that logic to the earth, one can see that the spinning earth tries to throw you off the earth, having the effect of making you lighter. Stop the spinning, and you appear to be slightly heavier.

Answer 5

Probably not. The virtual centrifugal acceleration is very small:

a = v^2 / r
= (2 pi r / t) ^ 2 / r
= 4 (pi / t) ^ 2 * r
= 0.03 m/s^2
= 0.003 times the gravitational acceleration

Note that the virtual acceleration caused by Earth's rotation points in the opposite direction from the force of gravity, contrary to what some people here are trying to tell you. Your inertia is trying to throw you into the air because your mass wants to move in a straight line; if it did move in a straight line, you'd see the curve of the earth falling away under you as you traveled. Gravity acts against that virtual acceleration to hold you in place.

Answer 6

I tend to agree with the majority opinion that we would not feel the insignificant change in weight on our bodies. If I recall correctly you can view gravity in terms of bending the space around us as illustrating a ball on a trampoline and bending the trampoline down and forcing other objects near it.

The bigger problem, if you are stating this as a question of scenario rather than a physics question, would be trying to figure out what had caused the rotation to stop. I personally think, like others here that had eluded to, would cause more global catastrophes that would be beyond our resources to combat or even prevent. Our lives would significantly change and perhaps life as we know it would either come to an abrupt halt, or lead to excruciatingly painful deaths by famine, disease, or starvation.

How apocalyptic.

~jaz~

Answer 7

Gravity would be lessened if the earth stopped spinning but the effect would be so small I doubt it would be noticeable. Average circumference of the earth is about 40,000 km and the average rotational speed at the equator is about 465 m/s. Using these two figures and the fact that centripetal acceleration is V^2 / R you get that the centripetal acceleration needed to hold us on the spinning earth is about .005 m/s^2 making up about .05% of our gravitational pull.

Answer 8

If the Earth stopped spinning, night and day would no longer occur--at least, not in any recognizable form. One daily cycle would end up being a full year long because the only change would come from the Earth's revolution around the sun.

Needless to say, life--all life, save for a few bacteria and maybe some deep-sea microorganisms--would cease within a few days...if it happened gradually. If it happened suddenly...I see no real need to repeat what other answerers have already stated.

Answer 9

The angular acceleration caused by the rotation of the Earth does reduce our perceived weight.

The circumference of the Earth at the equator is about 40,075 kilometers. The Earth turns once every 24 hours, so the linear velocity of the equator is 463.8 m/s.

Angular acceleration is given by
a = v^2 / r
a = (463.8 m/s)^2 / (6,356,750 m)
a = 0.0338 m/s^2

This is a small fraction of the gravitational force (9.81 m/s^2), and it would be even smaller away from the equator (zero at the poles).

Answer 10

Gravity is due to the size of the planet as well. If that did happen it would be the last thing on our minds because we would probably end up dieing. It would change the weather (think "Day After Tomorrow" weather) and days wouldn't be 24 hours. People would go stir crazy. In the end, everything would probably die... comforting, isn't it?