what would happen if the earth suddenly stopped rotating?
93433
I do not beleive anyone can accurately answer this question.
333791
Probably not. I think the end will come from environmental destruction causing melting of the ice caps, then, when the balance of the planet is thrown off enough, the earth will change its axis of rotation ( as it has done several times already according to the geologic survey ). This will be devestating to all life on the planet and the earth will be reborn.
63349
Yes, Earth's rotation gradually slows down due mainly to tidal friction caused by the gravity of (mainly) the Moon (since it's very close) and the Sun (since it's very massive). It was as low as 10 hours 3 to 4 billions of years ago.
287936
if gravity was absent, teh earth would have moved away from sun...it would be dark, the plants would not grow, we would die out of cold. we maynot even be able to stand in oneplace.....
584363
The laws of physics say that an object in motoin will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.  It's hard to conceive of anything that would make Earth's core stop spinning short of some planet destroying catastrophe.
1165555
You get rid of all the balance on our planet!  It would mess up the ecosystem and the food chain therefore all the living creatures on Earth, including people.  Everything effects everything else.  I imagine that they weather would go crazy or at least not function like we know it.  The domino effect would go out of control.  Unless, our planet could find another way of keeping the balance we are all screwed.
247837
if it stops rotating, then immediately the atmosphere will collapse, we will either feel very heavy or get stuck to the ground. this is cause the earth's gravitational force is not compensated by the centrifugal force.then there is the problem of having the same time ( day or night).the persons who r exposed to the sun will die of heat while the persons on the opposite side will die of cold.\n     if it stops revolving, then we won't have our regular seasons, if u last that long).the earth will collapse into the sun, cause the earth's attraction towards the sun due to the sun's gravitational pull is not compensated by the centrifugal force developed due to the earth's revolution. many of us cant see tv or other satellite programs, etc and etc.
206676
The world would come together in panic ... "Where the &*^^ did the US go?"  Conspiracy theorys would abound.  Tensions would be high - no one would trust anyone else.  Did an experiment go wrong?  Did one country develope an incredible weapon?  Are the aliens finally attacking?  Did God decide simply to wipe them off the face of the earth?  Different groups would claim responsibility -- most of them groups no one has ever heard of.  And all over this great world, there would be office pools involving which country would disappear next.  (My money would be on Akrotiri - but really, if they disappeared, who'd notice?)
325003
You would have to overcome the spinning motion of the atmosphere.  See my answer to your "if the world stopped spinning" question.  So yes, if you could reach about 900 mph going west, you would be counteracting the spinning of the Earth and eventually be somewhere else "without moving".  Now about the Earth's orbit around the sun...
76122
Not true unless an abnormal event causes it to be so.  What will happen is that over time the Earth's rotation will slow down till the year and the day are the same amount of time.  Just like the Moon is right now.
819303
All the plutonium in the world will not be enough to rock the earth's tilt (but it would kill most animal and plant life, that's another issue). But to answer your *hypothetical* question, this is what would happen:\n\nEquator: Cooler throughout the year.\nTropics: No change in summers, much cooler winters\nTemperate regions: Very hot summers, very cold winters.\nSubarctic: Hotter summers, colder winters.\nArctic: Much warmer summers, not much change in winters.\n\nSo presumably Antarctic ice would melt and significantly raise ocean levels.
1178649
we would notice a change right away, the direction and position of where the sun's rays hit are what cause our temperature differences. if we had a drastic 90 degree turn in our axis it would throw off our global climate over the course of a few decades. changes would happen drastically however, and until things settled down over those decades or even centuries we would be in a state of climate-chaos
52386
The easiest answer I can give you is assuming you mean that our rotational velocity (radians per second) goes to 0 instantaniously. Being that the world is rotating 360 degrees (2pi radians) every 24 hours (86400 seconds), we are turning 2pi radians per 86400 seconds or .0000727 radians per second. Assuming you are close to the equator, you will be launched (well perspectively you will continue moving at normal speed as the Earth abruptly stops) forward at approximately 1037.6 miles per hour, being that the earth rotates 15 degrees per hour at 69.7 miles per degree.
876385
if you mean..." If the worlds oxygen ends what would happen?" then that is obvious. the worlds would slowly deteriorate\n\nLife would end
420125
obviously the effects will be huge, depending on the number of atomic bombs that is used at the worst case scenario the spin of the earth will change because the atomic bombs release so much energy. so earth could fall out of its orbit. 2 things could happen either  an Ice age or everything is going to be melted!\nin this case i don't think anyone would survive, not even president Bush
167554
It is highly unlikly that the earth will ever change the direction of rotation. A strong outside force must be present. But the rotation of the earth is slowing down over time due to the pull from the moon. dont worry if anything does change you will not be here to see it.
509966
Ummm that's not a real question.\n\nBut, if that happened, you'd end up with someone standing on the earth who observed that small particle moving in a direction opposite the earth's rotation at a speed that could be calculated by:\n\n(radius of the earth)*6.28*(1/30-1/24)