• Question: If the Earth stopped spinning what would happen?

    Asked by eva to Mark on 8 Nov 2016. This question was also asked by jade, claire.
    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 8 Nov 2016:

      Interesting question. So, the surface of the Earth rotates once every 24 hours, and we know the circumference of the Earth is 40,075 km. So the speed at which the surface of the Earth rotates is 463 m/s! So every object (including you and I) is also rotating at that speed, since we’re on the surface of the Earth.

      If the Earth (for some mysterious reason, like an evil mastermind pressing their magic “stop the Earth rotating” button) stopped rotating, all of the objects on the Earths surface would still be moving at a speed of 463 m/s. Which means you (and I) would move very, VERY quickly to the East (we’d all move East because that’s the direction the Earth used to rotate). As a result, if you were standing outside (say in the middle of Cork city) 2 seconds later, you’d be 1 km East of the City. Unfortunately, if you were inside, you’d hit a wall. That would hurt!

      Thankfully, there’s no way that the Earth could just stop rotating. Stopping the Earth from rotating takes a tremendous amount of force! So I think we’re pretty safe 🙂

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