What if our planet stopped spinning (even if it's not possible)?

Question

I know it's improbable that this happends, but i'm just curious what if :)

Answer 1

Gravity would not be affected, but the perceived gravity would increase by a tiny fraction of 1%. This is because while we're spinning, objects on the surface have a tendency to move in a straight line tangent to the surface therefore some centripetal acceleration is required just to keep the objects from flinging off into space. Gravity is more than enough to do this job, and the excess is what we perceive as "weight".

If Earth stopped spinning relative to its orbit, the same side would always be facing the sun (just like the same side of the moon always faces Earth) but on the night side you'd see different stars at different times of year. Soon, it would get very very hot on the day side, and very very cold on the night side. It is possible that the night side would get so cold that the air itself would liquify, and then more air would rush in from the day side to fill the void, and that air would also liquify. Without an atmosphere to protect it, the oceans on the day side would boil away into space. Soon, every living organism on Earth would be dead, either from extreme heat or from extreme cold or from lack of air.

But, if it stopped spinning relative to the stars, a day and a year would be the same length, 31.5 million seconds long. It would still be very hot on the day side and cold on the night side, but the effect would not be as dramatic because night would only be six months long rather than permanent.

Answer 2

Dogwood gave a complete and accurate answer to this question. The only thing the I can add is that in the case of the earth stopping its rotation relative to the stars, that one day per year would be a negative day, with the sun rising in the west and moving backwards across the sky to set in the east. This follows the principle of having one more more sidereal day per year than solar day. In other words:

currently: 365 solar days, 366 sidereal days
If rotation ceased w/respect to the sun: 0 solar days, 1 sidereal day
if rotation ceased w/respect to stars: -1 solar day, 0 sidereal days.

This is because one revolution around the sun produces a sidereal day, so the the stars rise and set one more time per year than the sun rises and sets, regardless of how many days there are in the year.

Answer 3

I would second most of the answers above, and add that there would likely be some transfer of kinetic energy from the moon's orbit due to tidal effects. In principle, this would tend to increase the rotational speed of the Earth, and bring the moon slightly closer- although the effects would not be noticeable for millions of years.

Answer 4

sure, while we "slingshot" a satellite tv for pc around a planet like Jupiter for the purpose of increasing the cost of our satellite tv for pc, most of the rotational velocity from Jupiter is then transferred to our satellite tv for pc, ensuing interior the rushing up of our satellite tv for pc and the slowing down of Jupiter's rotation. while you're speaking approximately slowing down the cost of the planet's action around the sunlight, then sure, this is achieveable, yet could require a great deal of capability.

Answer 5

Hi. Each day would be a year long. As would each night. This would harm most of us (unless we were in constant migration).

Answer 6

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