Users who Dugg This
Jan in Colorado
7722 Followers
Jan in Colorado
7722 Followers
Shovelbaby
2110 Followers
Shovelbaby
2110 Followers
mysticdave
4415 Followers
mysticdave
4415 Followers
blindbirds
297 Followers
sethu470Jul 7, 2010
Good one !
alx359Jul 7, 2010
Think Earth's rotation is what mainly keeps the ocean (and atmosphere) sticking on the surface of the planet and not going to space.
kiadragonJul 7, 2010
Nope. Gravity and magnetic fields. Good shot though.
ripple123Jul 7, 2010
i think you have not the slightest grasp of basic physics whatsoever.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
The rotation of the earth is actually predisposed to throwing the oceans into space. The Earth's gravity is what keeps it on the surface.
probatusJul 7, 2010
alx359, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
jwmannJul 7, 2010
Movie reference? Sounds familiar. Therefore I dugg you up and down.
thomasdyerJul 8, 2010
I found out the rotational energy of Earth represents 2.38 billion tonnes of mass, and the Earth's hydrosphere minus that in the atmosphere has 2 * 10^13 tonnes of mass. I wonder if the gravitation between these masses is enough to counter the centrifugal force.
pryckJul 7, 2010
MIND BLOWND!
dteleJul 7, 2010
I'd nail myself to the floor
smpaisnutrientsJul 7, 2010
you'd want to nail yourself to the floor if rotation sped up. Slowing would just give you more jump height.
xack10Jul 7, 2010
cool
pixelsoupJul 7, 2010
LOTS of new surf spots.
zweefvliegJul 7, 2010
Not entirely accurate.
If the earth would stop spinning, the shape of the earth's crust would alter as well, in fact it would obtain a spherical shape that would largely cancel out the effect seen in the article. Many earthquakes are caused by the fact that the earth IS slowing down under influence of tidal effects, and accordingly changing its shape.
arkwaldJul 7, 2010
Overtime, probably. However I doubt very much you would see the shape of the Earth alter that much in a few decades. The Indo-Austrailian plate moves at 30cm a century and is one of the most geologically active places in the world. To in effect move the whole crust of the Earth 11km, difference in equatorial and polar radius divided in two, in the same period would be cataclysmic. Not to say it couldn't happen as such but the amount of energy being released would probably have other consequences aside from just the rock moving. Things like mountain ranges sliding or the like that would change how the mass of the Earth adjusts.
In the end liquid physics is going to operate orders of magnitude faster then the solid physics will.
Closed AccountJul 7, 2010
If the earth would be spinning in a few decades, suddenly there would be an enormous pressure on all plates, you will have a lot of earthquakes and volcanos, and although the liquid is faster, the solid plates will catch up fast.
What I do see as forgotten is the water moving to the poles, where all this water could build up enormous icecaps. The extend of dry continent would be bigger, I think.
zippy757Jul 7, 2010
if it stopped, we'd all be dead s**t.
acknotswJul 7, 2010
I like the scenario better when the earth stops spinning abruptly and everything is eroded down to bedrock in a matter of minutes.
thatinternetguyJul 7, 2010
Read that article with a handful of salts, because:
1. ESRI.com sells ArcGIS which was used to model stuff they wanted you to see.
2. ArcGIS is not a Earth simulation. It's basically an advanced mapping program.
phylaxerJul 7, 2010
Umm also only side would face the sun, heating it like crazy and the other would be an icey night.
james1877Jul 7, 2010
and they would swap every 6 months
phylaxerJul 7, 2010
depends on your frame of reference. i was thinking of the moon which doesnt spin in the earth's reference frame. likewise, in this scenario, earth wouldn't spin in the sun's reference frame.
smpaisnutrientsJul 7, 2010
if the earth stopped rotating it wouldn't be like the moon. the moon rotates, just very slowly.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
But your perspective doesn't change the fact that the Earth's rotation has stopped, not slowed to the same time frame as it's orbit. (In the article's scenario, at least)
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Not if the rotation stopped entirely. You're thinking about tidal locking, where the rotation is the same as the orbit.
phylaxerJul 7, 2010
well keep in mind your frame of reference. you are imagining what in computer games is called a global reference frame, but i'm not sure one exists. for example, we are still spinning in the milky way, which is probably spinning around something else.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Even if the reference changed, we would still be orbiting the center of the galaxy, we would not be spinning around it. The galaxy could be orbiting something else, and itself not spinning.
leandrotamiJul 7, 2010
I thought the presence of the oceans and the atmosphere would attenuate the effect phylaxer describes.
azathothhJul 7, 2010
Winter is coming.
rickfrothinghamJul 7, 2010
The earth rotates around the sun in the same direction as the earth rotates itself. This means that as the rotation slows, the point where the earth experiences "1 day per year" actually first happens when the earth is rotating at 2 revolutions per trip around the sun.
Then, when it is rotating once per trip around the sun, it is actually itself revolving at the same speed as it is rotating around the sun. At this rotation rate, the sun will always shine on one half of the earth, completely scorching it, while the other will never see light, freezing solid. Since we assume the rate of rotational deceleration also decreases as we approach standing still (ie, it gradually coasts to a stop), this period of approximately one rotation per year will last for a very very long time.
Then, once the earth is completely stopped, we will have a 1 day per year scenario, but time will go backwards from what it does now (the sun will rise in the west and go towards the east)
ripple123Jul 7, 2010
ok. well there would be major volcanic activity at the earth changes shape, for a bit at least, much like io as its warped on its path round jupiter. the ocean would redistribute itself, and having one side face the sun for prolonged periods would lead to one side of the earth being a blazing hot desert, and the other side being frozen solid. that is unless the intense winds cycle that would be whipped up by the uneven heating dosent renormalize the tempratures. and yes. we would pretty much be f**ked.
jfitz369Jul 7, 2010
I've actually wondered about this before... Interesting stuff!
Closed AccountJul 7, 2010
[checks to make sure my house is still above water]
I'm cool with that!
Sorry for your lots Europe and Russia and Canada and northern US
battlecryJul 7, 2010
There's a post-apocalyptic book called Red Shadows by Yvonne Navarro in which this happens. It's a pretty good book.
lynxznetJul 7, 2010
Too bad this cannot ever occur. Space is a vacuum that provides no resistance against the earth's rotation, ergo it will never stop spinning (it hasn't for billions of years).. the only way it could ever be possibly altered would be due to some major asteroid hitting against the spin as far as I know... The asteroid would have to be quite large as well :DComment is buried, click here to see the rest.
seabass11Jul 7, 2010
...Or if the Sun imploded. If that happened the Earth's rotation would be the least of our problems, we'd all be dead.
arkwaldJul 7, 2010
That might have happened to Venus. Remember it is the only planet in the solar system to rotate opposite to it's orbital path. Which is really strange given it has a good deal of mass to it.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Not too strange if the counter-rotation was imparted at a very early stage, mass accumulation at that point would not affect it's spin, it would just get bigger.
arkwaldJul 7, 2010
@testiculese That's the thing though, during accretion things just don't drop straight onto the planet. They have their own momentum they impart onto the accretor. Even if proto-Venus had been rotating opposite initially the sum of all other objects building Venus should have overwhelmed that. It seems very unlikely there is not some strong selection bias to generate 7 out 8 outcomes.
Given our current information about orbital mechanics and the arrangement of star systems it seems likely that some order of events with significant masses effected Venus sometime in it's past. As well as Uranus's extreme axis and Triton's unusual orbital characteristics.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Depends on the size of the things. With just dust and boulders, no imparting of momentum would be noticed, by the time the bigger chunks started coalescing, the main body would be too large for any influence from them either.
I can't imagine an impact of sufficient energy to reverse an established rotation without delivering enough energy to destroy the two objects...unless, similar to our theory of the moon formation, the blast did break up the planet, but instead the individual chunks happened to re-coalesce in the opposite direction. s**t happens? :)
Wild speculation of course, given we have no idea of the initial conditions, but it has the potential.
emjaymjJul 7, 2010
Venus isn't technically the only planet with retrograde rotation. Uranus does as well, but at the same time its axial tilt is so strange that it seems to be "rolling" rather than "spinning." Still, it ALSO has a net rotation opposite its orbital path.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
You are correct that the planet will never actually cease to spin, however the oceanic tides will slow the planet's rotation until it is tidally locked with the sun.
Millions of years ago (or a few thousand, if you're Christian) the length of the day was much shorter. It gets longer and longer each year by admittedly a very tiny amount.
bigwJul 7, 2010
You're comments correct and I'd have dugg it but for the snide comment about Christians.
Not all Christians believe that the Earth is only a few thousand years old. Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Then they aren't really Christians. If anything they'd be Deists.
*Your
*comment's
/pedantic :)
Closed AccountJul 7, 2010
It would get so hot on one side that the whole ocean would evaporate there and then fall as snow on the other side. But why are they even thinking about this? Very basic laws of physics make the scenario impossible except on extremely large timescales or with catastrophic events like a planet collision.
AlexL82Jul 7, 2010
Devil!too many catastrophes
pdehnJul 7, 2010
I'd be far more concerned about the immediate effects of whatever caused the earth to stop spinning in the first place. That kind of thing doesn't really happen on this scale within a meaningful timeframe without something very significant happening - which would probably leave us all dead anyway.
nilsJul 7, 2010
Guess the author is a TORG fan. Kudos. Pretty pictures, even if the scenario is, shall we say, a tad unlikely.
ymegJul 7, 2010
I would quickly become very acquainted with my wall.
tnvwboyJul 7, 2010
I didnt notice the factoring in of the continental densities vs the ocean floors. As I understand it the continents are less dense and float on the mantle, more so than the ocean floors which are primarily comprised of denser rock. Granted water is heavy and would exhibit some serious force down on the continents, but I would still think it would factor into these maps.
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
All of the crust floats on the mantle, not just the continents. They are all connected as one landmass, just with some oceans on most of it. The density of the rocks on the ocean floor is no different than at the tallest mountain, because at one point, that mountain was a flat plain at the bottom of an ocean. (ignoring the density differences between various types of rock, of course)
phillipjfry3000Jul 7, 2010
Would finally be able to take that road trip around the Earth. Seems like it could be a fun way to spend a few months.
decethJul 7, 2010
Wait, so no explosions? What's the point...
mcoulter876Jul 7, 2010
Land would wrap around the horizontal center of the earth, allowing you to walk around the earth without having to swim. Water would be to the North and South of you. There... just saved a bunch of reading for the non-Physics majors.
Closed AccountJul 7, 2010
tl; dr
testiculeseJul 7, 2010
Here are some Bazooka Joe comics, then...
paulsaboJul 7, 2010
why even comment then. What are you hoping to gain, internet respect for being too lazy to even READ something? You're already f**king around in front of a screen accomplishing nothing, you might as well learn something while you're at it.
xsecretfilesJul 7, 2010
..but what would happen to us humans?
cartermiJul 7, 2010
Cool! But I don't want it to happen and all. That would be creepy!?!?!?!
woozlewuzzleJul 7, 2010
Isn't it just a matter of getting the elephants moving again? After that, it's all turtles.
icexeJul 7, 2010
The History Channel (or maybe it was Science Channel) did a really good show about this a couple months ago
uv0001Jul 7, 2010
Also, the earth is spinning almost 1000mph. If it were to suddenly stop, you'd be suddenly flung eastward about 1000mph as well as anything not securely bolted to the planet. Also, the atmosphere would also be subject to inertia, which means there would be worldwide hurricane winds of up to 1000mph.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
avatar28Jul 7, 2010
If you had actually read the article you would have seen that it talks about the earth slowing over a period of several months. No getting flung into the wall by anyone.
Of course, the article doesn't answer what happens to all the kinetic energy of the earth's rotation. 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons is going to carry a lot of kinetic energy with it, something like 2.58×10^29 joules. That is around 47,000 times the amount of energy the earth receives from the sun each year. Call me crazy, but I think that would make for one HELL of a heatwave. The question of the depths of the polar oceans and dry land would be irrelevant. There would be no oceans, they would most likely evaporate. There might not even be any land either, just a giant ball of motlen rock.
uv0001Jul 7, 2010
Notice I said "If it were to suddenly stop." I know what the article said as I have read it. I'm merely commenting further on different scenarios in the hypothetical situation.
guyincognitooJul 7, 2010
When the Earth’s rotation comes to a halt, call on the one man who can make a difference, Tugg Speedman.
assassyn360Jul 7, 2010
If the earth stop spinning... it would be a helluva day!
sneakyninjaJul 7, 2010
Sounds fine by me. I'd have beach front property here in Iowa!
Closed AccountJul 7, 2010
This article should be titled: "How To Get Rid of Canada."
rygokeJul 7, 2010
if the earth stood still then aliens would invade us?
techrocket9Jul 8, 2010
All in one PDF for the win!
ttebrocJul 8, 2010
KAAABOOM thats what
battmannJul 8, 2010
we'd float off into space , doesn't sound that bad for all the s**t i've been through!
thebawsJul 8, 2010
Keanu Reeves will appear!