What would happen if the Earth stopped rotating on its axis?

Answer 1

We would NOT fly off.
We would NOT have an ice age on one side of the planet.
We would NOT have extreme heat on the other side.
Temperature would change, but not drastically.
One day would be equal to one year, since the earth is still moving in circles around the sun, so sun would still hit other parts of the earth.

Answer 2

If it stopped suddenly, then everything on the surface (oceans, people, cars, buildings, oak trees, and elephants) would go flying (the equator is moving at 1600 km/hr - that's a lot of velocity). Think about when you are standing on a bus and it suddenly stops - everyone flies forward. Same thing on the Earth. Once everything crashed into something to stop, or just eventually slowed down, then whoever was left alive would probably die of starvation (since there wouldn't be any food left) or dehydration (that suddenly stop would rip out all the infrastructure and destroy wells, rivers, and lakes so no fresh water). If the Earth didn't rotate at all with respect to the stars, as it moved around the sun the side facing the sun would change during the year (try holding a ball in one position and move it around a lamp - all sides of the ball would be lit after one revolution). So nights would be 6 months long, and so would days. Not a particular hospitable place for any life as we know it.

Answer 3

we would be in either perpetual day or perpetual night and the weather system would screw up with a warmed side of the earth and a frozen side opposite.
The sea the night side would freeze up and so would the atmosphere it would be frozen to the ground as ice and most of our atmosphere the day side would go to the night side to replace the void of atmosphere on the night side and it too would freeze up also and the air would get very thin globally.
Humans and most of life would die.

If the earth stopped instantly unless by divine force the seas would tsunami all over the world and the the earth's crust would buckle due to the molten rock under the earth's crust swilling around a stationary crust - releasing volcanoes and earthquakes that would decimate every land and cause even more power to the tsunamis.

Safest place to be for a while would be either very far up north or south where the rotational speed and energy is less than the equator but with the global catastrophe going on it would be a short lived comfort.
Energy conservation states that energy can not be destroyed so the rotational energy of the earth would have to be converted into something else and boy what a whack. The rotational energy of the mass of the whole earth suddenly kinetically released.


PLEASE NOTE:

Gravity would remain unchanged as the earth's mass would still be the same. Gravity is not reliant on an objects spin or trajectory but on physical mass. We would still be pulled to the earth because we would be attracted to the physical matter it is made of.

Answer 4

If the earth stopped rotating on IT's axis, a day would be 365 a year long. The effects of gravity would NOT be offset by the centrifugal (?) force of rotation - so we'd experience more apparent gravity.

But if the earth continued to rotate on it's axis, BUT ceased to rotate around the sun, each part of the world would continue in the season it's in now. THere would be a change in the length of a day. But I'm too lazy to work out exactly how much. The effects of gravity would NOT be offset by the centripetal (?) force of rotation around the sun - so we'd experience more apparent gravity.

No-one would freeze, no-one would fly off.

Answer 5

Barring the catastrophic events that would result by that much kinetic energy being stopped (unless it happened really, really slowly), a "day" would last for about 6 months, and night for about 6 months. This is because the Earth would still go around the Sun, and from our point of view on Earth, the Sun would drift slowly eastward, setting in the east and rising about 6 months later in the west. Of course the climate would be really messed up.

Answer 6

The sun would shine directly in same area all year long. Seasonal climate change would stop. There would be a lot of screw upped birds around,and other animal that migrate. Discount vacations would disappear. Many clothing manufactures and retailers would take a hit. Story of one big red man might need changing depending on where it stopped.

Answer 7

The mountains would fall over and were moving at a speed of nearly 600 mph as we speak, so if it stopped we would all fly in to the sky. The Oceans would cover the whole us in water or at least 3/4 of it. Sounds Like Fun to Me. O ya we would all die i forgot about that part.


And there would still be gravity. The moon don't spin but there is gravity there OK.

Answer 8

if the earth stopped all at once... the speed of the atmopshere (1000mph at the equator) would rip off everything above the ground for about ____ years.
and this would include the world's nuclear energy... think about that for a minute or 2...
but if it were to slowly stop... our days,months,hours,years,time, would get messed up and we might either drift off into space colliding with other planets ( or miss all the planets and become the known galixy's giant ice ball) or drift toward the sun and be burned like a little lint ball on a plumber's torch

Answer 9

there would also be high winds since the air on one side of the earth, the heated side, would rush to the opposite side which is obviously colder, the cycle would switch six months later for obvious reasons

Answer 10

Gravity is not a function of our spinning - the "flying off" (actually it would be more a like a 3000 mph car wreck than flying off, i think) would be caused by our inertia, not gravity suddenly disappearing - but the sun would stop rising and setting like it does.