Consecuences of Earth Rotation

[marialfc]

Why is the rotation of the earth so importan and what would happen if the earth sundelly stopped rotating?:confused:

[budcamp]

What would happen if you were standing on a train doing 1000 miles an hour (the approximate speed of earths rotation) and it hit an huge boulder. The train would stop and you would keep going.

[Impalaplaya]

IT is called inertia

[Steve Langford]

There would be other effects too. The Coriolus force plays an important role in many long-term weather patterns, such as trade winds, tropical monsoons, and tropical storms. Ocean currents also owe much to the earth's rotation. If the earth's rotation were much different that it is now, the earth would be a much different place. A critical climate parameter is the rate of heat transport from the tropics to the poles. Does any one have a handle on how this heat transport would be different if the earth rotated much more slowly than it does now?

[PhysBrain]

I don't think anyone could tell you for certain what would happen if the Earth did not rotate as it currently does. I can, however, mention some things which you may want to look into if you are seriously researching this topic.

When you say the Earth stops rotating, I assume that you mean that one side of the Earth is always facing the Sun. This is what is known as being tidally locked, like the Moon is to Earth and Mercury is to the Sun. Venus is not tidally locked, but its rotation is very slow. Keep in mind though that the Earth would still be rotating, once per revolution about the sun (once per year). The Moon rotates once a month, Mercury once a mercurian year, and Venus, with a very slight retrograde rotation, actually completes one rotation in a little more than one venusian year.

One of the most profound effects would be that one side of the Earth would be much warmer than the other. For comparison, take a look at the differences in dayside and nightside temperatures of Mercury and the Moon. Venus is an odd exception, its dense atmosphere is mostly CO2 which traps the heat and causes daytime termperatures hotter than Mercury's dayside temps. However, the atmosphere also convects the thermal energy very well into the night side so the temperature difference is not as pronounced as on other slowly rotating bodies.

While the Coriolis effect does affect the movement of all fluids on the planet, solar heating is a much more influential factor on the movement of the atmosphere and the oceans. It is the solar heating which drives the convective processes on Venus. A study of the motion of clouds on Venus may give you some insight into how the Earth's weather patterns might be affected. The Coriolis effect is much more pronounced on a planet like Jupiter which has a much faster rotation and much less solar heating.

Another factor which may be relevant is the strength of the Earth's magnetic field. It is not well known exactly how much the rotation of the Earth affects the motion of the molten rock in the mantle which gives rise to the magnetic field. My guess is that it would be significantly reduced since the only remaining preturbing force of significance would be the tidal forces caused by the Moon.

While we're in speculation mode... if we were to assume that none of the above affects were sufficient enough to render the Earth completely uninhabitable by life as we know it, and if we were lucky enough to have the Pacific ocean directly beneath the Sun, then I would venture to guess that a habitable zone would be possible within ten to twenty degrees from the terminator (day/night dividing line). The reason we would want the Pacific Ocean to be the spot directly under the Sun is because fluids transport thermal energy much better than solids. Besides preventing excessive heat build up in one location, it would also enable the rest of the planet to be heated by convective processes. Thus establishing the habitable zones around the terminator.

Well, I don't claim that any of this would actually be true, but from what I do know, these would be things worth considering. Hope this helps. Good luck with your project.

[Impalaplaya]

Im not sure if the person that psted above me said this because he had a long ass reply and i dont read that stuff so other effects would be we would just fly off into space if the world suddenly stopped wed be thrown into space. if it gradually stopped we would float into space and burn up in the atmosphere by te gravity of the other planets or just suffocate

[budcamp]

It's a good idea not to read long replys, they just confuse you! It's much better to just think simple thoughts. Much easier. No sense in hurting your brain.

[timeshifter]

if the earth just happened to stop spinning, (which it is already doing) we would have seasons on half of the planet, and one side would always have day while the other side had only night.

the day side would burn up, with the suns radiation being too hot for earth to handle, and the night side would freeze, getting no heat at all. that is all i can say and all that can be said.