What happens if the earth was a shape of a rugby ball?
443155
First off, the rotation around it's axis speeds up. \nThe faster the speed, the more "rugby like" a sphere apears . \nThe moon would be orbiting it in a more eleptical orbit\nIts own orbit perhaps would be altered and become more eliptical. A more eliptical orbit results in us getting out of the "life zone" thus ending life on the planet throughout the course of several years... \n\nhmm... HOWEVER, if it was a Vertical Rugby ball then its the total opposite, for it would be rotating around the two pointy sides rather than the flat ones.  Interesting, I'm going to start making models !
314905
Imagine a molten ball of liquid rock in space. It will take the shape of a sphere due to the gravitational pull - any other shape would be turned into a sphere by gravity over time. \n\nNow, set this sphere rotating. Due to centrifugal forces, the sphere will bulge slighty round its equator. There you have it, the shape of the Earth.
314986
To a first-order approximation the Earth is round. This\nis due to gravity. Gravity pulls with equal strength in all\ndirections; therefore any variations from a spherical\nshape will lead to gravitational forces that\nbring the shape back into that of a sphere.\n\nThis is without considering the rotation of the earth,\nhowever. The rotation of the earth adds centrifugal\neffects, which cause the earth to bulge slightly at\nits equator and flatten slightly at its poles.\n(This is like twirling a rock on the end of a string\nand then letting go--the rock flies away from the\ntwirler.) Because of these centrifugal effects, the\ndistance from the center of the earth to the surface\nof the earth is about 0.33% shorter at the poles\ncompared to the equator.
366783
The ball would reach the other end and turn back and so forth i.e. it would oscillate. The whole motion is based on the gravitational force. Its a physics problem. check out a physics book chapter on gravitation.
1142458
Our sun will expand and engulf the earth and turn it into a ball of molten rock, then vapor.  Run... this will happen in about 5-6 billion years.
520314
Yes...if you were playing a ball game in helium with less than .00001% of earth's sea level pressure the potential energy would be hugeley negative...of course the equipment needed to play such a game would be hard to design but you simply asked if a baseball can have negative gpe
64853
First of all the world is not round it is an oblique sphereoid (basically a double ended pear shape.)\n\nThe force of gravity generated by the molten core of the planet acts in all directions equally at any one point in the planet.  This attracted the material from space that formed earth following the Big Bang.  This would form a spherical object.\n\nThe rotation of the planet complicates thia as the equator is rotating faster than parts of the Earth that are further away from the equator, the poles rotate the slowest.  This disparity causes greater centripidal forces to be experienced at the equator than at the poles so the earth bulges out at the centre.
901644
The only way for the cannon ball could circle the earth is if you could neglect air friction and use one hell of a canon.You would also be able to clear any thing in it's path.Great question but I didn't have time to calculate the initial velocity of the cannon ball.
535923
um...There wouldn't be anything, there would be no earth, the sun will increase in diameter causing the temp. on earth to rise VERY high, and people will finally build a powerful rocket to go to another planet that's similar to earth or mars...
455077
The actual shape of the Earth today is an OBLATE SPHEROID. It's a kind of sphere but flatter on two opposite sides. These sides are found at the poles.\n\nThe reason why the world is shaped like so is because of the the Earth's rotation. This spinning occured from the time of the Earth's formation up to this day. Centrifugal force tends to throw more matter in its equator than its poles.
410954
The Earth is round.\nObviously at lower latitudes you view the moon from a different angle than what you would at higher latitudes.\nSo that at the equater the moon when rising would look like a bowl from that angle in that phase.
404666
By the pull of earth's gravity
78121
Is it round?  This is due to gravity.  Gravity pulls with equal strength in all directions; therefore any variations from a spherical shape will lead to gravitational forces that bring the shape back into that of a sphere.\n \nThis is without considering the rotation of the earth, however.  The rotation of the earth adds centrifugal effects, which cause the earth to bulge slightly at its equator and flatten slightly at its poles.  (This is like twirling a rock on the end of a string and then letting go--the rock flies away from the twirler.)  Because of these centrifugal effects, the distance from the center of the earth to the surface of the earth is about 0.33% shorter at the poles compared to the equator.
523001
It would change the Earth's rotation and the Earth would tilt on its axis. What if all of us asked the same question at the same time that violated one of  Yahoo's community guidelines? Would the system completely break down?
94632
Assuming (1) the Earth isn't torn apart by the impact of such a meteor and (2) the Earth wasn't molten rock in the center, you could safely expect this ball to go through the hole toward the center of the Earth, pass through the center and start moving towards the opposite end of the Earth.\n\nBecause the ball won't have gained enough kinetic energy to then break away from Earth's gravity (in the same way a pendulum always comes back and finally, to rest), the ball will then slow to a stop and return back towards the center.  Just as a pendulum will, the ball will oscillate back and forth for a while until its potential energy evens out to zero and it stops, motionless, at the exact center of the Earth.\n\nGive it a try and let us know how it all works out, okay?
256171
There is a classic experiment in Physics where you suspend a ball on a spring balance and immerse it in a beaker of water sitting an a scale. As the ball enters the water the spring balance reading reduces and the scale reading goes up correspondingly. \nThe water is like the atmosphere. After the ball is immersed the scale does not change in value even if you let the ball go to the bottom of the beaker. The ball is like the plane and the bottom of the beaker like the earth.\nThe only way to change the weight of the earth (the beaker of water) is to bring something in from outer space (the ball) but if that thing already exists on earth it is already included in the weight of the earth.\nSimilarly if you could get all your planes far enough into outer space you could conceiveably lighten the earth.
17266
Neither.  It is more of an oval thanks to the strong magnetic pull at the *top* and *bottom* (North and South Poles) of the earth which also have to do with gravity.  Were these features any different, the fowl of the air would not know where to go in the winter.