what happens if the world stopped spinning?

Answer 1

The earth moves around the sun at 66,600 miles per hour, if it just stopped the impact would be enough to knock everyone and everything clean off... it would be an instantanious death. Think of driving 75 miles per hour and stopping dead (like hitting a wall) and then multiply that by 66,000 times.

Answer 2

O my god, how many people think gravity is caused by the earths rotation!!!
The rotation of the earth (specifically the rotation of anything) about a point creates a cetripetal force on the thing tending to throw it away from the point. So just now the net force acting on you is a little less than the force that gravity is excerting on you, making you weigh a little less. If the earth were to suddenlt stop spinning, you'd shoot of in a line tangential to it's surface at a speed varying anywere from 0-1000mph approx depending on your proximity to the equator. Friction with the surface rapidly slowing you down until the mushy pulp came to a rest weighing slightly more than it did before due to the now greater net force acting upon it. The earth is currently bulged at the equator so over many many years the bulge now felling the greater net force would settle down to a more or less spherical shape. If the spinning stopped slowly, you'd just go up in weight slowly and the bulge in the earth would still go down over many many years.

Ofcourse in either event half the planet would think what a wonderful day for a shot time and half would rapidly freez over and the seasons would be lost forever.

Answer 3

If the earth were to gradually stop spinning (it is already - leap seconds etc) to a complete stop the 'only' effect would be extreme temperature changes - no-one or thing would float or anything. That is ludicrous. We are 'stuck' to the earth by gravity. The only result of the earth spinning on its axis at the moment now is the seasonal changes.

Of course, if the earth were to stop spinning I would like to be elsewhere - I hate extreme hot [and extreme cold] weather ;-)

BTW the earth WILL stop spinning in a few billion years - enough time to save up for a swimming pool :-)

Answer 4

It depends if the world stops spinning gradually or immediately.

If gradually, then you will have day or night in one place. Soon temperatures would get to extremes(that is cold in the side facing away from the sun and boiling hot to the side facing to the sun) and u would not survive for long..

If suddenly, it will be a very sad ending.If u think about it,the earth rotates pretty fast.If it suddenly stops,u will keep going in motion as if the earth was spinning. And you will most probably be flinged away from the earth into the space where you will suffer from lack of air. Even if u have an infinite scuba diving air tank on you, the ultraviolet rays of the sun will give you a skin cancer and ur skin will get all pale and dry. U would get a beaautiful veiw of the sky,though.

Answer 5

By spinning, I assume you mean rotating which causes day and night. The planet would continue to revolve around the sun. The dark side would not be able to grow plants without artificial grow lights. The growth of plants on the light side would be quite disrupted and many species of plants and animals would become extinct. Climate and weather would be changed. Famines and war would break out, billions of people would die. Ocean life would be less affected. It would be interesting to read a science fiction book based on the survivors of such a catastrophe. Evolution would fill the vacated niches with new species.

Answer 6

Everyone would die as they continue to travel at around 1,000 mph in the direction of the Earth's spin now terminated. The scorched burning surface would destroy all life. By the way, will the Earth rotate once per year as it orbits the Sun showing one face continually towards the Sun? If so, one side will be tremendously hot, the other near absolute zero.

Answer 7

If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, then everything on its surface would, due to inertia, attempt to keep going in the same direction at the same speed. At the equator, that means anything free to move (including bodies of water) would suddenly, relative to the now stationary crust, move west to east at about 1000 miles per hour. THIS IS NOWHERE NEAR ESCAPE VELOCITY, so none of it would "fly off into space."

It would, however, cause massive devastation - trees would be torn out of the ground, lakes, rivers and oceans would try to empty themselves on the land "downrange", every standing building would collapse, etc., etc.

Bad stuff all around. But no launching into space.

Answer 8

Not only you will fall, but will be squashed by gravity as well. You see, your weigh is the result of the pull the Earth has on you and the effect of the spin of the Earth moving you around.

Not only that, consider the mountains, buildings, power lines and to the extreme the continents might sink into the ocean.

Bad day for life on Earth.

Answer 9

That would depend on if it SUDDENLY stopped or GRADUALLY stopped. If it suddenly stopped, the inertia of all objects on the earth would cause those objects to continue in motion according to Newton's 1st Law of Motion. It would be disastrous. If the earth gradually slowed down, so that we came to a safe stop, then we would not experience any 24 hour day. Instead the only type of change in sunlight would occur due to our orbiting motion around the sun. So our new day would be equal to 1 year. Pretty bad!
We certainly would have gravity. Gravity is due to the pull of the earth's mass on other masses.

Answer 10

Why do people think that the Earth's rotation causes gravity?

If the Earth stopped spinning, we would not longer have "night" and "day"; there would be "the side facing the Sun" and "the side facing away from the Sun". It would wreak havoc with oceanic currents and weather patterns, though.

You wouldn't float off or fly away, though.