Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

If the Earth stopped rotating


Taylor

Recommended Posts

I heard that if the earth stopped rotating that one half would go dark and the other light all the time. Has anyone hear about this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 33
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Blizno

    4

  • Celumnaz

    3

  • Taylor

    2

  • Yggdrasil

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Actually, I believe that we would face much more dire consequences if the earth stopped rotating.

Perhaps I can find out online elsewhere. Or someone might enlighten us with the best estimate/ "prediction" of what might occur.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, got this at

http://starryskies.com/articles/2003/09/earth.rotation.html

This very question was emailed to me and so I thought I'd just make it the topic for this week's article. Of course 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.

But what 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.

Even stranger would be the change in 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.

As an example, say we live at 30 degrees North latitude. In the Summer, at a longitude where the Sun was exactly overhead, it would slide gradually to the horizon as Fall approached, but since the Sun has moved 90 degrees in its orbit, it would now be due west. As Winter approached, you would now be located on the dark side of the Earth. You would have to move to a longitude 180 degrees around the Earth to see the Sun 1/2 way up the sky because in the Winter, the Sun is 50 degrees south of its summer location in the sky.

There would be other effects of the Earth's rotation slowing also. The magnetic field of the Earth is generated by a dynamo effect that involves its rotation. If the Earth stopped rotating, the magnetic field would no longer be regenerated and it would decay away to some low, residual value due to the very small component which is 'fossilized' in its iron-rich rocks. There would be no more 'northern lights' and the Van Allen radiation belts would probably vanish, as would our protection from cosmic rays and other high-energy particles. Losing this protection would cause serious health issues.

Be glad for our Earthly rotation, without it we would be much worse off!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made a poem for you-

If the Earth didn't turn

The core would start to churn

We'd all be dead

Nuff said

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An object set in motion will remain in motion....how the hell would the Earth stop rotating?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, got this at

http://starryskies.com/articles/2003/09/earth.rotation.html

This very question was emailed to me and so I thought I'd just make it the topic for this week's article. Of course 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.

But what 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.

Even stranger would be the change in 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.

As an example, say we live at 30 degrees North latitude. In the Summer, at a longitude where the Sun was exactly overhead, it would slide gradually to the horizon as Fall approached, but since the Sun has moved 90 degrees in its orbit, it would now be due west. As Winter approached, you would now be located on the dark side of the Earth. You would have to move to a longitude 180 degrees around the Earth to see the Sun 1/2 way up the sky because in the Winter, the Sun is 50 degrees south of its summer location in the sky.

There would be other effects of the Earth's rotation slowing also. The magnetic field of the Earth is generated by a dynamo effect that involves its rotation. If the Earth stopped rotating, the magnetic field would no longer be regenerated and it would decay away to some low, residual value due to the very small component which is 'fossilized' in its iron-rich rocks. There would be no more 'northern lights' and the Van Allen radiation belts would probably vanish, as would our protection from cosmic rays and other high-energy particles. Losing this protection would cause serious health issues.

Be glad for our Earthly rotation, without it we would be much worse off!

:no: That doesn't sound fun.

I made a poem for you-

If the Earth didn't turn

The core would start to churn

We'd all be dead

Nuff said

Cool ^_^ .

TeraLink Was Here! ;)

Edited by TeraLink
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How would the Earth stop rotating? I'll just pull this lever here and the brakes should engage in a few minutes! LOL

Seriously, what naturally occuring event would cause the Earth to stop rotating? I'm sure that a comet hitting us at the right angle would do it but, then who'd be left to care what the wind did?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How would the Earth stop rotating? I'll just pull this lever here and the brakes should engage in a few minutes! LOL

Seriously, what naturally occuring event would cause the Earth to stop rotating? I'm sure that a comet hitting us at the right angle would do it but, then who'd be left to care what the wind did?

A good question.

Since the Earth is in a motion that was established eons ago, and is in space, nothing can stop it from moving...save one thing:

An object of adequate mass striking it at just the right angle to cancel it's rotation. Now, a comet hitting us couldn't do this, unless it was planetary sized. Of course, a planetary sized body would be the only possibility of a naturally occurring thing, but of course the odds of such an occurrance are really rather slim (understatement, I know...it's essentially impossible it is so remote).

However, the odds of such a body (if there were one) actually striking the Earth so precisely as to magically cause a zero rotation state are even more remote than such a body existing on a collision course with Earth. If such a collision were to occur, the cataclysmic environmental effects would render life on Earth null and void quickly, so it's a rather moot point. Such a collision would alter the orbit of the planet to the extent that if anyone was able to survive the collision (again, exceedingly unlikely), they wouldn't do so for long anyway.

ICONvsICON is essentially correct in describing the effects of the stoppage of the Earth's rotation (sans any cataclysmic event). One of the "other effects" he mentions would be the eventual extinction of most life on the planet, since life here evolved based upon (among other things) the rotational cycle of this planet. All of that would suddenly be changed without rotation and much of life on this planet would become extinct eventually...save the heartiest of critters that would eventually, after a lengthy process of natural selection, evolve into creatures adaptable to the very new environment.

But again, since no reasonable mechanic exists to stop the Earths spin, and the only possible method for doing so would destroy the planet's life long before a stable orbit was acchieved, the discussion is rather moot, I'd say.

Regards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moot moot moot moot. As an American I've never encountered that word before and I think it's absolutely lovely. *runs off chanting moot*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

alright, if the earth never turned, one side would not have sunlight forever, becoming barren, with no sunlight so plants couldn't photosynthesis and it would be a desert. The other side would have sunlight and so it could have plants, daytime all the time, and wouldn't be so cold so we'd have more ecological diversity. However, we'd be politaclly ***** as everyone would be competing for the same warm nonpermafrosted land and our weather system would also be odd with fewer strong winds due to the slow rise and fall of temperatures through the atmosphere (temperatures could be the same for months).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How can an object, i.e. the Earth, spin perpetually? Isn't this impossible and that is why a perpetual motion machine has never been made?

Therefore isn't the Earth losing rotational speed, albeit at an infinitissimally, inconsequencially slow rate?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure, friction in a vacuum? If space is a vacuum, why doesn't the atmosphere get sucked off? Gravity would have more to do with motion in space than friction, no?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moot moot moot moot. As an American I've never encountered that word before and I think it's absolutely lovely.

Don't worry dude, Americans use it, too. It's not uncommon.

I don' think the question was asked because it's going to happen, just more of a What If scenario. Kind of like what would happen if the moon disappeared (which I guess is more likely to happen than the Earth stopping rotation).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure, friction in a vacuum? If space is a vacuum, why doesn't the atmosphere get sucked off? Gravity would have more to do with motion in space than friction, no?

There isn't any friction.

The Earth is slowing down because of something called entropy. Bascially you can't get more energy out of something than is put into it. This is why perpetual motion is impossible. The Earth has a finite amount of energy and will eventually slow to a stop, but we don't have to worry about that because the Sun will turn into a red giant and boil away the oceans ( us, and everything else ) on the planet before that can happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moot moot moot moot. As an American I've never encountered that word before and I think it's absolutely lovely. *runs off chanting moot*

hehe we do use it, it's one of my pet peeves. People say "Mute" when they mean "Moot" :angry2:

That one and "Intents and Purposes" people always mix up with "Intensive Purposes" :angry2:

There isn't any friction.

The Earth is slowing down because of something called entropy. Bascially you can't get more energy out of something than is put into it. This is why perpetual motion is impossible.

Hmm, Even in a vacuum in space, far from gravitational fields, perpetual motion is impossible because of entropy?

The Earth has a finite amount of energy and will eventually slow to a stop, but we don't have to worry about that because the Sun will turn into a red giant and boil away the oceans ( us, and everything else ) on the planet before that can happen.

Whew! No worries then! :wub:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Earth is slowing down because of tidal forces. The sun's pull is very slightly stronger on the side toward the sun because that side is very slightly closer to the sun. This is the cause of tides. The oceans are higher on the side toward the sun and on the side away from the sun. The side toward the sun is pulled slightly harder toward the sun and the side away from the sun is pulled slightly less hard, therefore it can move away from the sun a little more.

The constant movement of the oceans, and to a much smaller extent, the land, consume energy. That energy is the kinetic energy of Earth's spinning.

Over very, very long time, Earth will end up with one side facing the Sun all the time, unless the sun becomes a red giant and swallows the Earth before then.

This tidal action is why the moon always has one face toward Earth. It once rotated relative to Earth but tidal forces eventually locked it in its present position. I think many moons in the solar system are like that. Mercury is the only planet with one face always facing the sun. That's not surprising because it's small and it's very close to the sun where the tidal forces are much larger than at Earth's orbit.

In the absence of tidal forces or interplanetary particles to cause friction, a planet would orbit its sun at the same speed forever. This is perpetual motion because no energy leaves or enters the system. That never happens in any part of the universe we've looked at. There are always gravity and/or particles to get in the way, even if they're very diffuse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does Mercury have tides? I thought our tidal forces were Caused by the moon, not the other way around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Earth is slowing down because of tidal forces. The sun's pull is very slightly stronger on the side toward the sun because that side is very slightly closer to the sun. This is the cause of tides. The oceans are higher on the side toward the sun and on the side away from the sun. The side toward the sun is pulled slightly harder toward the sun and the side away from the sun is pulled slightly less hard, therefore it can move away from the sun a little more.

The constant movement of the oceans, and to a much smaller extent, the land, consume energy. That energy is the kinetic energy of Earth's spinning.

Over very, very long time, Earth will end up with one side facing the Sun all the time, unless the sun becomes a red giant and swallows the Earth before then.

This tidal action is why the moon always has one face toward Earth. It once rotated relative to Earth but tidal forces eventually locked it in its present position. I think many moons in the solar system are like that. Mercury is the only planet with one face always facing the sun. That's not surprising because it's small and it's very close to the sun where the tidal forces are much larger than at Earth's orbit.

In the absence of tidal forces or interplanetary particles to cause friction, a planet would orbit its sun at the same speed forever. This is perpetual motion because no energy leaves or enters the system. That never happens in any part of the universe we've looked at. There are always gravity and/or particles to get in the way, even if they're very diffuse.

I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

Perpetual motion isn't possible and voilates the first and second law of thermodynamics. The planets are NOT part of a perpetual motion machine and just like everything in the universe they are subject to entropy.

From one of my fave sites :-) see Wikipedia entry here

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree with Yggdrasil...all energy has a net movement towards disorganization-chaos, if you like. As time wears on, the earth does lose infinitessmally small amounts of its rotational motion, all in the name of entropy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sorry, but you are wrong.

Perpetual motion isn't possible and voilates the first and second law of thermodynamics. The planets are NOT part of a perpetual motion machine and just like everything in the universe they are subject to entropy.

From one of my fave sites :-) see Wikipedia entry here

If no energy enters or leaves a system, the system will remain in motion forever. It will be in perpetual motion.

That's not the same thing as the fraudulent "perpetual motion machines" that some people have tried to sell. They claim they can get energy out of the machine without putting any energy into the machine. Of course that's impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does Mercury have tides? I thought our tidal forces were Caused by the moon, not the other way around.

Earth's tides are caused both by the moon and the sun. They both contribute to the tides, making tides higher or lower depending on where the moon is relative to the sun. I left the moon out of it to simplify things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.