If Earth Stops Rotating
While the probability of our planet stopping to spin seems to be almost zero, a slight possibility does exist and paves the way for us to develop the probable theories around the consequences of such a case occur. The fact that earth has seen a constant daytime consisting of 24 hours is only in between the brackets of human knowledge. What was the speed of earth several millennia ago, and what will it be after a plentiful of millennia down the line are questions not known. Scientists have been drawing quite a few plausible theories to predict what lies ahead for the fate of our planet.
The good news is that we wouldn't fall off if the Earth's rotation halted. We could walk on land around the entire equator if water was driven to the poles, but it would be a harsh environment.
We already know that the Earth's rotation is slowing down. But what would happen if our planet's axis of rotation came to a complete stop? Fortunately, geographers can now provide us with the answers, thanks to advances in our understanding of our world. You could go around the world on the equator and keep completely dry, ignoring the bitter cold at night and the scorching heat during the day.
The first thing we may notice is that the Sun no longer travels across the sky in a day. Because Earth's rotation causes the Sun's apparent motion, a single day would last half a year if the planet were stationary (though we could look forward to some very long-lasting sunsets).
What Happens if the Earth Stops Rotating
Currently, what is known to us, is that the planet is slowing down at a rate of 1.7 milliseconds per century. It is believed that this is due to the moon's tidal effect on the planet. If the earth stops rotating all of a sudden, then the atmosphere present around the planet would still be intact at the current earth's speed of 1100 miles per hour at the equator. With the earth at a standstill and the atmosphere in rotation, it would result in all the masses on earth getting uprooted, circling around the planet, and land at another spot across the planet.
For example, a young man is driving on a highway for leisure on a bright and sunny day. He passes a cluster of restaurants a little distant from him. If the earth were to suddenly cease its spin then, this young man would see him, his car, the road, the vegetation around him, the restaurants, and everything and everyone in them flying into the air. As of now, the fastest wind ever recorded is 253 miles per hour, but the wind is almost four times as strong, hence the scenario would be just as deadly.
In addition to this, since the earth bulges at the poles due to centrifugal force experienced by the planet, all the ocean's water would flow towards them leaving a massive single continent at the equator. Due to the overflowing water several parts of North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and most of the arctic regions would be submerged. This would leave the equatorial and tropical regions to experience drought and the existing life (if any left) would be deprived of food and water due to lack of vegetation.
The natural transition between seasons would also be inhibited due to the year-long day. The final and most fatal consequence would be the loss of the magnetic field of the earth. The earth's magnetic field plays an important role in blocking the sun's deadly cosmic rays, in the absence of it, our atmosphere would pave way for these high-frequency rays to enter the earth's atmosphere, and destroy any life that is left on the planet.
Biological circadian rhythms would be thrown entirely out of whack if we didn't have the 24-hour days we're used to. Regular fluctuations in sunlight are necessary for the rhythmic cellular mechanisms that instruct our bodies when to sleep and wake up to function. Many animals on the planet, from bees to trees, rely on circadian rhythms to function. Changing these cycles may cause standard behavior patterns to be disrupted.
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If Earth Stops Rotating Gradually
On the other hand, if the rotation of the earth is gradually decreased over billions of years, to around one rotation for 365 days resulting in a condition called, 'sun-synchronous,' then the scenario would be quite different. The chances of occurrence of this possibility are pretty high in comparison to the earlier. In this case, a portion of the planet would have perennial sunlight while another would be in constant darkness. This is not exactly the termination of the rotation of the planet, but it is quite close.
In the impossible scenario, six months in sunlight and six months in the night what happens when the earth stops rotating altogether. The winds would alter and the circulation would be in between the poles rather than the currently existing east to west. Adding to this effect, if the earth stops rotating altogether the temperatures on earth would also alter and the equatorial regions would be much hotter and the regions near the poles would be much colder due to the slant rays of the sun are exposed to.
Planets of the Endless Day
There aren't any planets out there that don't revolve at all, as far as we know. Planets and other celestial bodies are formed by natural processes that result in rotation; therefore, all worlds spin from the start. However, other planets appear stationary, which astronomers refer to as tidal locking.
These worlds always display the same face to their star, resulting in night and day sides that never change. Planets' rotation rates can be gradually slowed by gravitational interactions with their stars until they precisely match their orbital period.
Do you mean all at once? You'd be dead in a matter of seconds if the Earth suddenly stopped rotating right now. You'd be thrown sideways at speeds of over 1000 mph, rolling, falling, and sliding down the ground until you collided with something more substantial than you, and then you'd be dead!
After that, you'd be too preoccupied to notice that one side of the Earth, the dayside, would become enormously hotter, while the other side, the night side, would become much cooler. But, before all of that, massive expanses of land would be swept clean by ocean water walls. They aren't speeding up; the Earth has stopped spinning, and conservation of motion keeps anything that isn't glued down firmly to the surface going at the previous spin speed.
FAQs on What Happens if the Earth Stops Rotating?
1. What Would Happen If The Earth Stops Rotating And Then Starts Again?
If the earth stops rotating, it would result in extreme effects such as landmasses being uprooted due to deadly winds, very high temperatures in one half of the planet and very low temperatures in the other half, superstorms and cyclones due to the exchange of winds between the cold and bright sides of the planet, drifting of water bodies to the polar regions resulting in the formation of a huge single continent in the equatorial region of the earth, and many more devastating effects that would destroy all the life on earth. If the earth starts rotating again, over several millennia the planet would see life again probably the earlier conditions would be restored.
2. The Earth may stop spinning. Is it possible?
Scientists have predicted that the speed of the earth may gradually reduce and come to a standstill in billions of years from now, but the probability of other events to occur before this is higher. The possibilities are that the sun may consume the planet and eventually die while expanding or a large asteroid may collide with our planet and destroy it or distort its orbital position in the solar system before it stops spinning. If the sun eats up earth and a few other planets orbiting it, it may explode into a supernova and destroy everything in the field of its explosion.
3. The Earth rotates in which direction?
Every 24 hours, Earth completes a full rotation on its axis — which runs from the North Pole to the South Pole — spinning at a rate of around 1,040 mph as measured at the equator during its yearly orbit around the Sun. According to the US space agency, NASA, it rotates in a prograde (west to east) direction, which appears counterclockwise when viewed from above the North Pole.
4. What is the speed of the Earth's rotation?
At our level, we must understand that the Earth orbits our Sun in a nearly circular orbit. It travels at roughly 30 kilometers per second, or 67,000 miles per hour, on this path. Furthermore, our solar system, including Earth, orbits around the center of our galaxy at a speed of 220 kilometers per second, or 490,000 miles per hour. The speeds involved become incredibly massive when we consider increasingly enormous size scales.
5. What if the Earth began to spin backward?
This new rotation would alter wind and ocean currents, completely altering the planet's climate. Oceans regulate global temperature by dispersing the Sun's heat over the globe. They transport rain to thorny jungles by diverting rainwater from the driest, hottest badlands. A new currency would emerge in the Pacific, and it would be in charge of transferring heat over the world. The deserts would withdraw from Africa and Eurasia due to this new circulation.
6. What should we expect if the Earth begins to rotate more quickly?
Water would be drawn from the poles to the equator by the Earth's centrifugal force, elevating the water level, thereby several hundred meters. This would obliterate Indonesia and most of northern South America and divide Africa into two separate islands. The Earth's newly increased speed would also result in considerably more intense hurricanes, which would also spin at higher speeds. More hurricanes would almost certainly arise due to the more significant water near the equators, which would be accompanied by a massive increase in humidity, resulting in a continuous belt of fog surrounding the whole equator.
7. What happens if the atmosphere vanishes for three seconds?
The Earth would be a dangerous place to live if it lost its oxygen for five seconds. Our inner ear would explode as a result of the intense sunburn. The Earth's air pressure would drop by 21%, and our ears would not have enough time to adjust. Download the Vedantu App to learn more about these topics.
Everyone would get sunburned at the beach. Ozone is a kind of molecular oxygen that absorbs the majority of ultraviolet radiation. The sky would darken during the day. The sky would become less blue and more black as fewer particles in the atmosphere scatter blue light.