View Full Version : If the world really did SUDDENLY stop spinning.
Ok guys. Every sense I watched the original "Day the earth stood still" when I was just a little kid the concept has fascinated me. I've pondered to myself for over a decade now (yes I was an odd kid) as to what would happen if this actually happened.
With the release of the remake (Which I refuse to see due to them changing the story) I've decided I should probably publish my theories (as simple as they may be). But unfortunately I never graduated out of Algebra 1, so some of this is a little complicated for me to work out in my own head.
Lets start from the beginning...
The circumference of the earth is approximately 24,900 miles around. It takes approximately 24 hours for the earth to make a full revolution around it's own axis. So as a kid I figured out that at any given point you are traveling at 1037.5 MPH on the surface of the earth (24,900 / 24 = 1037.5).
So imagine if the earth suddenly stopped spinning. You would keep travel at over 1000 MPH until you come in contact with another object.
As I got older I realized that I had overlooked a key piece to my equation. You would only be traveling at 1037.5 MPH at the equator. As you go farther north or south you start traveling slower and slower because you have less distance to travel until you ultimately are at the polls where you are not traveling at all (technique you would just be spinning at that point).
So at first I thought if you were half the distance between the equator and the north/south poll. You would just cut the distance in half effectively reducing your speed in half. But this would only be true if the northern/southern hemispheres were cones and not hemispheres.
So how do you figure out what the circumference of the earth is on it's x axis from where you are in the world?
Once we have that. That brings me to the next part that I ponder about. (lets keep this part simple and assume you are on the equator). Traveling at 1037.5 MPH around a circumference of 24,900 miles is going to create how much centrifugal force? It has to create some right? So in theory you would have seemingly less gravity at the equator and more as you get closer to the polls.
But by how much? Is there a mathematical way to figure this out exactly?
jdrom17
12-27-08, 03:07 AM
Not the right place for this :fighty:
Go to some Math forum :p
I can't help you though. That's some pretty serious math/physics work to do there.
Not the right place for this :fighty:
Go to some Math forum :p
I can't help you though. That's some pretty serious math/physics work to do there.
Sorry I'm reading a book by one of my heros (Dr Michio Kaku) about quantum physics. Got my thinking about a lot of things.
P.S. According to a recent test... Apparently Jeff is my hero also... :thumb:
-=CrAnSwIcK=-
12-27-08, 03:23 AM
regardless of your position on the earth would you not be travelling equal speed?? like closer to the pol you cover less distance, but in less time, should be relatively proportioned at each latitude, would it not? i had have to see a calculation, should be pretty basic, i would convert to meters and seconds first to simplify the calculations, but you are right that to find a circumference of a slice of latitude may be difficult...
and we're talking about instantaneously stopping??
regardless of your position on the earth would you not be travelling equal speed?? like closer to the pol you cover less distance, but in less time, should be relatively proportioned at each latitude, would it not? i had have to see a calculation, should be pretty basic, i would convert to meters and seconds first to simplify the calculations, but you are right that to find a circumference of a slice of latitude may be difficult...
I don't think you would be travel at equal speed because you have less distance to travel.
I.E. If I have to travel 2 miles in an hour and you have to travel 1 mile in an hour I am traveling faster than you are. No matter the distance, you both are covering it in a 24 our period. It just depends are who has to travel further.
and we're talking about instantaneously stopping??
Yes. Instantaneously stopping was what happened in the original "Day the earth stood still" if my memory serves me.
ElrichMeister
12-27-08, 06:11 AM
So how do you figure out what the circumference of the earth is on it's x axis from where you are in the world?
Well to find that you gotta know what angle you are at from the X-Axis, so you want to find the Arc Length. so the earth is approximately 24,900 miles in circumfrence divide it by pi and we get the diameter which is proximately 7925.92 miles so the earths radius is 3962.96 miles. so lets say we are about 30 degrees from the X-Axis. and we want the find what the length is from the x-axis to the our point. since the our central angle is 30 degrees we need to turn that to radians because we want a measurement, so 30 degrees in Rad is calculated by multiplying (pi/180) so we get approximately .524 Rads. so to find the our arc length we just multiply our radians from the central angle in rads by our Radius, so we get 2076.59 miles. now this is all in a 2 dimensional field. so i hope this is all right, and its late and got this all from the top of my head so im not sure if its correct lol
Avid6eek
12-27-08, 10:13 AM
The earth's spin does not generate much in the way of centrifugal force. If it did, you would weigh significantly more on the north/south pole than you did on the equator.
In this hypothetical situation, what would cause the earth to stop?
If the earth as a whole stopped, those near the equator would face certain instant death, both from getting flung to the east at over 1,000mph, and from the oceans rapidly riding over each continent starting on the west shore until they slowed. The atmosphere would also continue to spin, so a sudden stopping of the physical earth would result in winds of over 1000mph at the equator and slowly decreasing as you move up in latitude. The chances of surviving this at anything but the highest latitudes would be nearly impossible. I'm no physicist, but I'm assuming the statification of the atmostphere would be destroyed. Everything would mix and we wouldn't have distinctive layers. Protective layers such as the OZone would no longer exist. Sea life may survive the initial stop, but the destruction of all aquative vegitation and massive amounts of sediment the water picks up from slowing over land will most certainly put an end to that as well. With the earth stopped half would have constant sunshine, while the other half would be frozen. This would kill any remaining living creature on land. The only possible survivors would be single/few celled organisms in the ocean, and as long as the earth was stopped, they probably wouldn't be able to evolve from there.
"It's the end of the world as we know it"
Avid6eek
12-27-08, 10:18 AM
Nevermind...those single cell organisms would be destroyed within a matter of years. On the hot side of the earth, the oceans would slowly evaporate and be deposted on the cold side as snow/ice. After a period of time, the sunny side of the earth would have no water and simply be a desert while the cold side would be a massive icecap. No life could survive.
Nevermind...those single cell organisms would be destroyed within a matter of years. On the hot side of the earth, the oceans would slowly evaporate and be deposted on the cold side as snow/ice. After a period of time, the sunny side of the earth would have no water and simply be a desert while the cold side would be a massive icecap. No life could survive.
I have to assume from the story that the earth continued to circle the sun (so there wouldn't be a hot side/cold side) It would just take 1 year to complete a solar day.
If the earth did stop circling the sun gravity from the sun would "suck" us into the sun.
"The end of the earth"
See I know there is a lot of "what if" going on here. But I like thinking about things like this. Keeps my mind sharp.
I have to assume from the story that the earth continued to circle the sun (so there wouldn't be a hot side/cold side) It would just take 1 year to complete a solar day.
It would take one year, but you would spend 6 months either in the sun or in the freezing cold, depending on which side of the earth you were on.
As for calculating the speed you move at depending on your location in the world, here's my rough guess. First lets pretend the earth is a perfect sphere to make this a bit easier on ourselves. Here's my diagram of 1/4 of the earth, the red line represents the Equator.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/NovaSk/untitled-31.jpg
If you are at the equator the width (radius, red line) is 6378.1 km and the height (also the radius, represented by the blue line) is also 6378.1 km. Now we calculate the total length from the bottom of the black line to the top of the black line, while following the same path (this is basically like traveling from the equator to the north pole) so we calculate the circumference and divide by 4. This leaves us with 10013.6 km. Now divide 10013.6 by 6378.1 and we get 1.57 (km), so now we find out that for every 1.57 km you travel from the equator, you travel 1 km in height. At this point you create a right angle triangle where (see below) the lines AB and AC intersect is where you are in the world. You can measure the angles (A and B, C will always be 90) yourself, because we'll be needing them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/NovaSk/untitled-32.jpg
Now figure out the height (a) by measuring your distance from the equator, dividing it by 1.57 and subtracting that number from 6378.1. We need to figure out the distance (b) in order to figure out the circumference of the world (disc) at that point. So by the sine law we get:
a / sin A = b / sin B which can be simplified into b = a sin B / sin A
Once you figure out b, you simply find the circumference, divide by 24 and you have the speed you'll be moving at.
Wow, this is a thread i could gladly partake
The earth core is spinning solid core, and the rotation creates earth magnetic force.
If earth was to stop spinning, if, the solid core still rotates, we still will have the magnetic field around earth. And the magnetic field is the one that shielded out atmosphere from being ripped apart from the sun's charged particles. Planet mars, being that the core had stopped rotating, had little magnetic field which in turns strip it atmosphere a long time ago.
Thus the earth side that faces the sun will be hotter, but not to the extend where life would died out. Due the presence of jet stream, the temperature median wouldn't be too far apart from the side that faces the sun and those which covered in darkness.
Granted, the vegetation facing the sun would still survive, but not on the dark side.
I do not understand the notion of you being flung away when the earth rotation stops. Object with big mass have gravitational field, so even if earth stop spinning, it still have gravity, it would overcome any inertia that existed with earth rotations. The earth need to be suddenly (like going from 24,900Miles to 0 Miles in like less than a day) for you to be thrown like a ragdolls :dev:
If the earth did stop circling the sun gravity from the sun would "suck" us into the sun.
The sun is not a black hole. Earth stop spinning on it's axis doesn't mean that it cannot orbits the sun. Extrasolar objects such as Hot Jupiters (known as pegasids) (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060605_mm_pegasids.html) had one of it's side faces the sun permanently, however, it still orbits around it's parent star.
Remember, the mass of the object is the one which generates it's own gravity.
yes I was saying that if the earth stopped orbiting the sun it gravity from the sun and the earth would pull them together over time.
I do not understand the notion of you being flung away when the earth rotation stops. Object with big mass have gravitational field, so even if earth stop spinning, it still have gravity, it would overcome any inertia that existed with earth rotations. The earth need to be suddenly (like going from 24,900Miles to 0 Miles in like less than a day) for you to be thrown like a ragdolls :dev:
I was saying that we are trying to be flung from the earth while it IS spinning. and that if it stopped spinning the feeling of gravity would increase marginally.
yes I was saying that if the earth stopped orbiting the sun it gravity from the sun and the earth would pull them together over time.
According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity (http://library.thinkquest.org/27585/what/what7.html), the mass of an object, especially large object with large mass like Sun would create a depression of space-time around it. Best shown on this diagram:
http://library.thinkquest.org/27585/what/images/illus_2dspace.jpeg
That means, earth would be pulled towards sun gravity, however, the planet would swing around the sun (creating an oblate spheroid-shaped orbits) , pulled back towards it again, before repeating the process all over again.
I was saying that we are trying to be flung from the earth while it IS spinning. and that if it stopped spinning the feeling of gravity would increase marginally.
A-ha. I mistaken your earlier post. It's 6 am in the morning and i had difficulty sleeping :eek:. Excuse me for my lack of concentration lols
I'll contemplate more of this matter once i woke up in the morning. ;)
Avid6eek
12-27-08, 07:54 PM
I have to assume from the story that the earth continued to circle the sun (so there wouldn't be a hot side/cold side) It would just take 1 year to complete a solar day.That is still way too long. No vegitation would be able to survive on a planet when half the year as the summers would be far too hot, and the winters too severe. All exposed land masses would be devoid of vegitation, thus much like the sahara. Temperatures would plunge below freezing before the sun even set. I couldn't even begin to speculate what the temperature would be like after 180 days of daylight. It would easily surpass 300F as our atmosphere does very little to block infrared heat...if anything it traps it once it does make it to the surface.
If earth was to stop spinning, if, the solid core still rotates, we still will have the magnetic field around earth. Friction would prevent this from happening. Either the earth spins as a whole, or it stops as a whole. You are correct that if it were to stop, solar winds would slowly strip the earth of it's atmostphere.
Due the presence of jet stream, the temperature median wouldn't be too far apart from the side that faces the sun and those which covered in darkness.The jet stream is formed in part by the cornelius effect which would require the earth to be spinning to happen. With the earth stopped, all weather would occur near the sunrise/sunset border. If you were to stand on this border you would probably experience fierce winds blowing at hundereds of miles per hour coming from the dark side of the planet at temperatures further below zero than ever experienced on modern earth. The planet's weather would be dominated by a massive high pressure system on the dark side, and low pressure system on the light side.
That is still way too long. No vegitation would be able to survive on a planet when half the year as the summers would be far too hot, and the winters too severe. All exposed land masses would be devoid of vegitation, thus much like the sahara. Temperatures would plunge below freezing before the sun even set. I couldn't even begin to speculate what the temperature would be like after 180 days of daylight. It would easily surpass 300F as our atmosphere does very little to block infrared heat...if anything it traps it once it does make it to the surface.
You need to take into account of the evaporation rates on water surface that faces the side of the sun, as with higher evaporation rates meant that there would be large cloud formation, and with that came the benefit of lower temperature due to cloud cover (and) rain on the hot places.
The exposed part would turn to desert if it was deep inland. Those around water sources will still be lush with vegetation.
The jet stream is formed in part by the cornelius effect which would require the earth to be spinning to happen. With the earth stopped, all weather would occur near the sunrise/sunset border. If you were to stand on this border you would probably experience fierce winds blowing at hundereds of miles per hour coming from the dark side of the planet at temperatures further below zero than ever experienced on modern earth. The planet's weather would be dominated by a massive high pressure system on the dark side, and low pressure system on the light side.
You are correct on that one, my wise friend.
On extrasolar planets known as Hot Jupiters (XO-1b (600 lightyears from earth)), that is what exactly happened, fierce winds blowing at hundred even thousand of miles per hour due to the massive temperature different between the cold and hot side of the planets.
However, that happened due to the proximity of the hot jupiters (pegasids) to it's parent star. Earth longer range from the sun meant that if there's that kind of winds, it won't be that high........ however it still be a b*tch if you were at that that location where the winds blows
AKHandyman
12-28-08, 09:59 PM
Whew! That is all I got to say ... I thought that with the Earth spinning, it creates gravity. Without it ... we just "float" away ...(in this case for sake of argument) As far as weather, not many would be around to report it! :D
Comixion
12-28-08, 10:04 PM
This thread is making my brain hurt.
AKHandyman
12-28-08, 10:13 PM
This thread is making my brain hurt.Wow ... you're still alive!! I thought for sure you would have done yourself in after the horrible stink-feast the Cowboys performed in Philadelphia ... :woot:
Avid6eek
12-29-08, 10:50 AM
You need to take into account of the evaporation rates on water surface that faces the side of the sun, as with higher evaporation rates meant that there would be large cloud formation, and with that came the benefit of lower temperature due to cloud cover (and) rain on the hot places.
The exposed part would turn to desert if it was deep inland. Those around water sources will still be lush with vegetation. We've already established that the earth would not have an atmostphere without the magnetic field, so there would be no weather. For the sake of debating it...I will continue :p.
Cloud cover isn't much of a limitation to solar energy. Eighty percent of the suns energy makes it though cloud cover. On a cloudy day, it is still light outside and the temperature rises. Clouds reduce the amount of radiation that reaches the earth, but not by very much. Water vapor would not be able to condense until it was extremely high in our atmostphere during the 180 days of daylight. Things would simply be too warm. At the same time, any rain that did fall would evaporate before reaching the surface of the earth. Once water evaporated it's only chance of being deposited would be back on the cool side of the planet. If by chance you were right and some vegitation was able to survive near bodies of water, the harsh 180 day night would kill it with no chance of having it return on the following day.
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