The rotation of the earth has actually been slowing down.
Find out tomorrow, what that slowing rate is and more fascinating, what it would be like if the earth stood still(stopped spinning).
I would love to hear some guesses about what you think would happen if the world stopped turning...........or jokes.
Talk about a migraine!
Was tied up earlier and just now have the chance to briefly discuss this but will continue it tomorrow.
Like some of the questions, I don't know the complete/comprehensive answer until doing more research.
On this one, I would like to do more research because the answer is much more complicated that what I thought initially.
To summarize the unexpected change:
"If the earth stood still, the oceans would gradually migrate toward the poles and cause land in the equatorial region to emerge. This would eventually result in a huge equatorial megacontinent and two large polar oceans."
The world would heat up quickly. Gravity might stop working.
Lacey,
You are half correct..................the half of the earth facing the sun would get very hot, mainly the lower latitudes which have the high angled powerful sun.
The other half of the earth would be in the dark and very cold.
Also, a day, which now takes 24 hours, would take 365 days. The change in the position of the sun in the sky would hardly be noticeable from day to day and every place on the planet would have 6 months of daylight, followed by 6 months of night.
During the 6 months of night, even the equator regions would be cold, so all tropical, cold sensitive plants would die. Only plants that could go dormant during the extremely cold months, then withstand serious heat during the hot months could survive in the lower latitudes.
Very few areas could grow crops because of temperatures.
The Coriolis force from the spinning earth, that causes a rotation to storms would be gone. Jet streams and frontal systems would not be very progressive.........mainly, almost stationary boundaries between the hot and cold side of the earth.
The cold side probably would have no precipitation because of this and the lack of rising air to build clouds that fill with moisture and precipitate. The hot side over the ocean would likely see alot of rain. Over land, not so much. The few areas that could grow crops because of temperatures, might not have favorable precip because weather systems would not move much. In a stalled out position, most places would get too much or not enough rain.
The spinning earth right now causes the oceans to be pulled towards the equator by centrifugal force which causes the water to bulge at the equator. Take that away and the oceans would collect towards the poles and new, huge land masses would emerge in the low latitudes, with 2 massive oceans.................1 in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, the other in the high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.
"....Also, a day, which now takes 24 hours, would take 365 days...."
the margin department would issue margin calls every 365 days.
Good one Gunter!
But how could you lose when almost everything would be going in one direction or the other? Currencies would be a perpetual short, gold and crops would be a perpetual long.
Of course, you'd not be able to find anyone to take the other side of the trade.
Great post Metmike. Would the magnetic field still work?. The spinning inner core would still be generating a magnetic field? Over time some of the molten iron cools down and accretes to the solid ball of iron. Does that change the Dynamics of the Dynamo, or the intensity of the magnetic field. Does earth become a sterile ball of dirt and rock after the UV and cosmic radiation sweep the planet?
Great post Metmike. Would the magnetic field still work?. The spinning inner core would still be generating a magnetic field? Over time some of the molten iron cools down and accretes to the solid ball of iron. Does that change the Dynamics of the Dynamo, or the intensity of the magnetic field. Does earth become a sterile ball of dirt and rock after the UV and cosmic radiation sweep the planet?
A helicopter hovers 10 feet above an airfield in Panama. The earth spins 1000 mph at the equator. It is a windless day.
Where will the helicopter land after one hour in the air?
a) 1000 miles in the Pacific Ocean.
b) 1000 miles in the Atlantic ocean.
c) Onto the airfield.
Gravitational pull should pin the helicopter above the airport.
Wonderful Question.
The atmosphere rotates along with the earth at the same speed so Carl is right that the helicopter will stay in the same place.
And welcome back to MarketForum azurite!
Relatively speaking of course... :-)
"Would the magnetic field still work?. The spinning inner core would still be generating a magnetic field? Over time some of the molten iron cools down and accretes to the solid ball of iron. Does that change the Dynamics of the Dynamo, or the intensity of the magnetic field. Does earth become a sterile ball of dirt and rock after the UV and cosmic radiation sweep the planet?"
Excellent point Lacey,
I overlooked that.
The article below from "The Science Explorer" covers that and other things that I overlooked............our relationship with the moon for instance:
http://thescienceexplorer.com/universe/what-would-happen-if-earth-stopped-spinning
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Great explanation below on how our oceans would change if the earth stopped spinning and good point at the end about the actual effects of the actual slowing we experience:
"Our spinning Earth is in fact slowing down. Billions of years in the past, the faster-spinning Earth had a bigger bulge around the equator, and billions of years in the future, the slowed-down Earth will have a smaller bulge, and will be closer to a sphere.
In fact, this slowing of the spin is why we have to add an extra second into our clocks every 500 days or so."