What if the Earth suddenly stopped spinning? The answer is pure chaos

The Earth rotates every 24 hours

Planet Earth, which formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago, rotates on its axis once nearly every 24 hours—specifically, every 23 hours and 56 minutes.

What would happen if it suddenly stopped spinning?

In this interval it also advances on its orbit around the Sun, which it traverses every 12 months. But have you ever wondered what would happen if the earth suddenly stopped rotating, even if just for a second?

Disastrous consequences for everyone

Let's find out together what the ominous consequences might be, taking into account the people, the climate and everything that covers the surface of the earth. We anticipate the effects would be downright catastrophic and devastating!

What would happen to the people?

Unfortunately, the answer will not please you at all. The earth rotates on its axis at speeds ranging from 0 km/h at the poles to 1,600 km/h at the equator, depending on latitude. In many places in Europe, for example, it rotates at a speed of around 1,180 km/h, but we don't notice it because we rotate with it.

'That would be catastrophic'

Here is astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson explains about what would happen to people if the earth suddenly stopped rotating: "That would be disastrous." 

Falling and rolling at 800 miles an hour!

 Neil deGrasse Tyson continued, "We are all moving with the Earth at 800 miles an hour due East. If you stopped Earth and you weren’t seatbelt buckled to the Earth, you would fall over and roll 800 miles an hour due East."

We would all die

"It would kill everyone on Earth. People would be flying out of windows and that would be just a bad day on Earth," Tyson added.

What would change on Earth?

If the Earth stopped spinning indefinitely, rather than just for a second, there would be a number of amazing changes.

Change in atmospheric patterns

The first abrupt changes would be the atmospheric patterns, ie the way the air currents move, which play a very important role in controlling rainfall and temperatures.

Deserts instead of forests

One of the consequences could be the emergence of deserts where there are now forests, or the transformation of frozen tundras into cozy, habitable environments.

Complications with the magnetic field

Another catastrophic consequence concerns the earth's core, which consists in part of molten iron. If the earth were to suddenly stop rotating, the magnetic field created by the magnetic dipole created by the rotation of the molten iron in the earth's core would disappear.

Without protection

Without the so-called geomagnetic field, this protective shield against harmful radiation from the sun and cosmic rays would disappear. But what prevents the earth from coming to a standstill?

There's nothing that can stop it

Our planet, like almost everyone else in the universe, is constantly turning on itself because there is nothing that can stop it.

What stops a moving object?

Take space.com's comparison: " If you spin a roundabout in a playground and let go, eventually it will come to a stop. This is because as it spins, the air and the surface of the playground are pushing against it, causing friction and slowing it down."

Space is basically empty

The earth, on the other hand, continues to rotate because space is practically empty. There is no air or other particles in space that could stop this movement.

Collision with another planet

According to space.com, perhaps just a collision with another planet could suddenly bring Earth to a standstill, or at least slow it down.

The earth is actually slowing down its rotation

What may not be widely known is the fact that the earth is gradually slowing down its rotation because of the moon.

What is causing the slowdown

Here is the explanation from space.com: "The motion of the side of the Earth facing the moon is not balanced perfectly by gravity, and neither is the side of Earth facing away from the moon. This imbalance creates the ocean tides, which make the oceans bulge out on either side of the Earth."

Because of the tides

During the Earth's rotation, the protuberances caused by the tides move along the Earth's surface like a wave. This motion exerts a force that acts in the opposite direction to the direction of rotation, gradually slowing down the planet's rotation period. This causes the Earth's day length to change by about one second every 50,000 years.