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Rotating earth |
We all know that earth rotates around itself at a huge
speed and also moves around the Sun. But did it ever occur to you what will
happen if the rotation stops ? (Revolution is going just fine. if that stops it would be a complete
different scenario)
So, WHAT HAPPENS IF EARTH STOPS ROTATING?
If you think about it, the question itself is very fascinating.
We all do know that it is highly unlikely, yet intellectually, this is a question
each one of us has thought about at some point of time in our lives. We may or
may not have got a satisfactory response but its surely worth a thought. So,
here in this article we try to give an answer that will not just be
satisfactory but a lot more than that. (The underlying assumption is that we
are still revolving. Only rotation is stopped. If revolution stopped, well, then
only one thing can happen. We’ll go and collapse in to the sun. So, definitely
not good)
If the earth suddenly
stops rotating i.e, if it comes to an instant halt as if some one were
to hit sudden brakes in a fast moving bus, then due to inertia, everything on
earth will still be in motion and everything and everybody (sand, trees, and
your favourite things too. so deal with it) will be thrown out in to the
atmosphere at a speed of about 1000 mph (1600 Kmph) except for those at the
poles (at poles you could hardly feel this). But still, we wont go off in to
outer space, because the amount of speed required, ESCAPE VELOCITY, for that is
still too high. If this really happens we can observe one interesting thing.
Till now since we are rotating along with earth we can never see or feel the
earth rotating, but if it suddenly stops and since we are still in motion we
can see that earth is rotating because of relative motion between us and earth
(of course we'll see as if it is rotating in the opposite direction). Another
by-product in this scenario will be huge earth quakes. It would be much worse
than the quakes that led to the extinction of dinosaurs.
But,If earth stops
gradually over a period of time, then it would be an entirely different
situation altogether. So, lets say it gradually stopped and everything on it is still
intact. The following are a few of the many changes we can notice.
1. Changes in the amount of Day-time
& Temperatures:
Probably the first significant change would be the length
of the day. Length of the year on the other hand won't change, but a single day
would be as long as a year. So, the day time will be for 6 months and night
time for another 6 months. Since there is a 6 month day time, it would get
super super hot (the amount of hotness is still dependent on the latitude you
live on. So, equator will get a lot hotter compared to places around 'Tropic of
cancer') and similarly the night will be extremely cold. Moreover, for all that
6 months the hemisphere that is away from earth will be covered in pitch
darkness. So, we have to think of ways to keep ourselves warm for 6 months and cold for another 6 months.
2.Changes in the Wind Patterns:
The temperature change will significantly affect the wind
patterns of the planet. Normally, Since earth is rotating the winds are dragged along with it and so the typical wind pattern would be
parallel to the equator. But now if it stops, the only thing that affects the direction
of winds is the temperature. And as we know wind blows form hot areas to cool places. So, the wind will start flowing from Equator
(hottest place) to Poles (relatively cooler places).
3.Physical Changes:
Now, let us think about gravity for a moment. The gravity
on earth is typically stronger at the poles compared to equator because of the
inherent deformities in the spherical shape of earth itself (Earth is not
exactly a sphere but is a bit flattened at the poles (SPHEROID) which happened
because of all the endless spinning for billions of years )
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The Mega-Continent at the equator and the two oceans around the poles |
Now lets go back to the scenario where the earth stopped
rotating. Since, the gravity is more at the poles and gravity is the only force
dictating now, all the water in the oceans starts to migrate to the poles and
at the equator we will probably have a mega
continent accounting for all
the land that has been under the oceans all along. Along with this, all the
water that is normally at the equator, migrates to the poles flooding all the
land near the poles, leaving us with two giant oceans each at one pole and one
giant land mass around the equator. Some even argue that the highest mountain status of Mt. Everest will be lost if such thing ever to happen but it is up for discussion.
4.Changes in the Magnetic Field:

5.Change in the Shape:
Our Planet, because of all the endless spinning, transformed
in to a spheroid (a flattened sphere) from what used to be a sphere. So, if
earth stops spinning it would again become a perfect sphere (not instantly
though).
SO.....
Well, because of all these drastic changes, life on earth
would be completely miserable. Lets say humans are so adaptive that they can
quickly do something to gain over these changes, may be keeping long lasting
fires in cold and some sort of cooling procedures in hot conditions, the other
life forms surely will not adjust and probably we will be left alone. Even most
of the plants can't tolerate these extreme conditions and we'll be left out
with very less things to eat. Unless and until new plants are formed, we'll
have to face a food crisis and there is no telling which life forms cope with this extreme situation. So, if this happens, everything will be against us
and we most probably will not survive for long, in these conditions.
Will this ever happen? Do we need to
worry?
This is surely not something that will happen overnight
(not unless some external force acts in some way). So, there is no chance of
earth stopping in the near future. But the interesting point is that we are
actually slowing down and the duration of day is getting reduced by 2.3 seconds
for every 1 lakh years (0.1 million). So, it would take at least 3,000,000,000
(3.0 billion) years before any significant changes happen because of this. So,
its not at all a reason for us to worry about in the near future. We have many
more important problems to worry about in our life-times like global warming,
oil deficits etc., than worrying about somethings which we are not even sure
will happen.
Image attribution:
- Spinning Earth: Courtesy - Loona Cry - http://loona-cry.deviantart.com
- STOP sign: By F l a n k e r [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
- Earth Day and Night - By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
- Wind Patterns - By KVDP (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
- Magnetic field: - http://www.artinaid.com/2013/04/earths-atmosphere-the-magnetosphere-and-outer-space/
- Mega-continent - http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0610/nospin.html
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