Earth stopping spinning

[aka pixi]

I know this probably is an impossiblility but what would happen if the Earth slowly stopped spinning until it stopped (say over a 3 day period) Would we all float off into space? How would it happen? Would it happen as the Earth slowed down or would it happen when the Earth stopped spinning? If it happened as the Earth was getting slower would the little things like mice and stuff float off before the big things like elephants? Also would we float off slowly or would it be really quickly like falling upwards? Or would we die from lack of oxygen or something first?

Sorry theres so many questions, I was just having a debate with someone yesterday about what would happen should the Earth stop spinning.

[aka pixi]

made a mistake in my question, I meant to say 'if the Earth slowed down spinning until it finally stopped'

[Loosehead]

Nothing would fly off into space, why do you think gravity is related to spinning? mmm

There would be lots of effects but the most noticable would be the 6 month long day!

[aka pixi]

hi loosehead thanks, I did think gravity was related to the spinning, you know like when you spin a bucket of water real fast and the water doesnt come out. Not sure I would like a 6 month day but a 6 month night would be cool zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Loosehead]

Well it's spinng at 1000mph now and we don't float off so 0 would have not effect.

[aka pixi]

cheers loosehead, nice to see you again btw :)

[CT]

A month day and night might sound cool but the temperature differences would become very large. The effect on life would be substantial.

[aka pixi]

hi CT thanks for that :)

[JudgeJ]

Have a look at the answers provided to an earlier, similar question.:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Science/Question193369.ht ml

[JudgeJ]

Which doe not want to work so either try this:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Science/Question193369.html

Or look under Science, 27-01-06, 0910, posted by doomey.

[qapmoc]

Hi CT, I am not sure that the temperature difference would be that great as the winds would make a much stronger circulation pattern than it does now and probably also the ocean currents which would move a lot of energy from one side of the world to the other, I should think it would make for some interesting weather though!!

[heathfield]

Well, everything would weigh more, since gravity would be the same, but there wouldn't be any counteracting centrifugal force that's trying to throw us upward.

I remember reading somewhere that if the world came to a stop, taking one hour to do so, it would be the equivalent of a one-and-a-half ounce sideways pressure at shoulder height. Most people wouldn't notice, until they realised that time seemed to have stopped!

Then there's J.G.Ballard's short story about the Earth's spin having slowed to a crawl, and the ex-pats in West Africa. They're all in a sunny late afternoon, but it's very slowly getting more toward evening. So the whole community is packing up en masse and heading for Brazil. Great tale!

[mibn2cweus]

Assuming the current size and shape of the Earth, it would have to rotate every 84 � minutes, (about 17 times faster), to achieve weightlessness at the equator.

Of course this would drastically effect the shape of the Earth turning it into a giant disk roughly the shape of our galaxy, only smaller.

[AGENT X]

in brief, the gravitational pull is directly related to the pull of gravity due to the distance from whatever is giving it its pull. so if the rotation of the earth remained ecxactly the same but just the rotation stopped the gravity would theoretcally stay constant just the severe weather paternse that would remain longer in one specific spot longer, thus, the weather in those spot would dramaticly change, catastrophic results would occure and in theory change gravity due to the most probable, pulling the axis in which the planet used to rotate in to a new line and this will affect the ultimate pull of the planet

[AGENT X]

in my first attempt to make sence of this a erroniosly put rotation instead of distance sorry

[aka pixi]

hi everyone

JudgeJ, thanks for the link, I didnt realise it had been asked before.

thanks everyone for your replies, although some of them were way over my head.

My question came about when I said to someone 'Stop the world I wanna get off' to which the reply was 'If the world stops we will all fly off'

[aka pixi]

that was actually one of the answers that went over my head Eddie lol