Imagine waking tomorrow morning and discovering that Earth had stopped rotating.
Unfortunately, you probably wouldn’t have much time to appreciate the scientific significance of the occasion.
At the equator, Earth’s surface is moving at roughly 1,670 kilometres per hour because of the planet’s rotation. If Earth suddenly stopped while everything on its surface retained that momentum, the consequences would be catastrophic. The atmosphere and oceans would continue moving, producing devastating winds and enormous displacement of water.
But suppose we magically stopped Earth without the immediate destruction.
Life would still change dramatically.
Earth would continue orbiting the Sun, meaning the familiar 24-hour cycle would disappear. A solar day would effectively stretch across an entire year, creating extremely long periods of daylight and darkness across much of the planet. Temperature patterns and atmospheric circulation would consequently change enormously.
Earth’s shape would also gradually change. Rotation contributes to the planet’s equatorial bulge, so without it, water distribution and sea levels would eventually be altered.
Fortunately, Earth isn’t simply going to stop spinning one Saturday morning.
Our planet’s rotation is gradually slowing over extremely long timescales, largely because of tidal interactions with the Moon—but nothing resembling this imaginary sudden stop is waiting around the corner.
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