What happens if the Earth stopped spinning?
Watch the video above. Well, it kind of is. The rotation of the earth is gradually slowing down. And by gradually, we mean.. the length of a day currently increases by about 1.8 milliseconds every century. So, not really much to worry about there. But what if it. Ok, the probability has been described by scientists as practically zero, but let not let that stop us from learning. The Earth spins at 1770 km/h. If it suddenly stopped, thered be chaos. The earth currently spins at 1770 km/h (1100mph) at the equator, as it orbits the sun. If that just stopped instantly, it would be... chaos. Anything on land that was not attached to bedrock, would go flying. That would mean, rocks, soil, trees, buildings, animals, people would be swept away. The sudden stop would force the water sideways in an instant, causing devastating tsunamis. Credit: Seven  This would also include the oceans, which would be forced sideways, at terrifying speed. Tsunamis would form.. so high you couldnt see the top. Just a gigantic wall of water racing at nearly 2000 km/h. All of that would be catastrophic. But wait, theres more. Deadly storms  The Earth may stop suddenly, but the atmosphere would continue to spin, which would cause winds and storms travelling at the speed of an atomic blast. Ok, so thats what would instantly happen. If anyone happens to survive those catastrophes, things are about to get a little more interesting. The Earth isnt perfectly round - theres a bulge of water around the creator, caused by centrifuagl force. Credit: Seven  The current spin of the earth means theres a bulge of water at the equator, caused by a centrifugal force  If the earth stops spinning, the bulge would flatten, and the water would spread out towards each pole, where gravity is strongest, filling up the Arctic and southern ocean. Earth as we know it. Credit: Seven  If the Earth stopped spinning, gravity would draw all the water to the north and south poles, leaving behind a strip of land, or a mega continent. Credit: Seven  That would leave this mega continent, wrapped around the equator of the planet. In the north, Canadas gone, as well as the north of Asia and Europe. Spain, however, would mostly stay above water. Ole! Down south, the Southern Ocean would start on a line roughly through Canberra, and would see Australia join New Guinea and Indonesia. New Earth would look A LOT different. Credit: Seven  Time change  Right, so on the new, still Earth, one day would cease being 24 hours long. And instead, be 365 days long. Half of the planet would have permanent daylight, the other half permanent darkness. Fun! Credit: Seven  Half of the planet would be locked, facing the scorching heat of the sun, in permanent daytime. While the other half would be in the permanent, freezing, darkness of nighttime. The only theoretically habitable part of Earth would be a tiny, twilight strip of land between the two halves. The poor people who are making their home in the new, tiny strip of land are about to face even more trouble. Deadly rays  Over time, the lack of earths movement would mean that Earths protective magnetic field would decay and eventually disappear. Soon, our atmosphere would disappear as well. Earths magnetic field would disappear, leaving us exposed to deadly cosmic rays. Credit: Seven  Which then leaves us exposed... to deadly cosmic rays with practically no chance of survival. Unless we move deep underground, which would pose its own set of challenges. Look this is all pretty grim, but dont stress. Scientists say that this is not going to happen for at least a billion years. So, we dont have to worry, as we wont be around anymore. Most of us, anyway (Elon Musk and Keith Richards excluded)