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What if the Earth stopped spinning?

  • Post category:Uncategorized
  • Reading time:7 mins read

The probability for such an hypothetical event of the Earth stopped spinning is practically zero in the next few million or even billion years. But, If the Earth stopped spinning suddenly, the atmosphere would still be in motion with the Earth’s original 1100 mile per hour rotation speed at the equator. 

Lets study what would Happen to the land If the Earth stopped spinning?

All of the land masses would be cleaned up as such of anything not attached to bedrock. This means rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, your pet Animals., and so on, would be swept away into the atmosphere. Even the hilly lands will be thrown into the atmosphere. So no one could holdon the planet surface.

If the process happened gradually over billions of years, the situation would be very different, and it is the probability which is the most likely as the constant torquing of the Sun and Moon upon the Earth finally reaches it’s conclusion. 


Other Effects if the Earth stopped spinning

If the rotation period slowed to 1 rotation every 365 days a condition called ‘sun synchronous’, every spot in the Earth would have permanent daytime or nighttime all year long. This is similar to the situation on the Moon where for 2 weeks the front-side is illuminated by the Sun, and for 2 weeks the back side is illuminated. This situation for the Earth is not the condition of ‘stopped’ rotation, but it is as close as the laws of physics will let the Earth get.

Changes of the Day length if the earth stopped spinning completely

If it stopped spinning completely, not even once every 365 days, you would get 1/2 year daylight and 1/2 year nightime. During daytime for 6 months, the surface temperature would depend on your latitude, being far hotter what it is now at the equator. At the poles where the light rays are more angled and heating efficiency is lower. 

This long-term temperature gradient would alter the atmospheric wind circulation pattern so that the air would move from the equator to the poles rather than in wind systems parallel to the equator like they are now. The yearly change in the Sun’s position in the sky would now be just its seasonal motion up and down the sky towards the south and north comparative to the equator due to the orbit of the Earth and its axial tilt. 

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As you moved along constant lines of Earth latitude, 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.

Position of the Sun

For example, if you were at a latitude of +24 degrees North in the Summer and 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. Then as we approach Winter, you would now be located on the dark side of the Earth, and would have to travel in longitude to a location 180 degrees around the Earth to see the Sun 1/2 way up the sky because in the Winter, the Sun is 48 degrees south of its summer location in the sky. It’s a little confusing, but if you use a globe of the Earth and orient it the right way, you can see how all this works out.


The magnetic field of the Earth

If the earth stopped spinning completely, As for other effects, presumably the magnetic field of the Earth is generated by a dynamo effect that involves its rotation. If the Earth stopped rotating, it’s 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. This is a significant biohazard. ~Dr. Sten Odenwald

Check images of Hubble and James Webb Telescope here at Space Science
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What if the Earth stopped spinning?
image: Quora

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