If the world stopped spinning..

uscitizen

uscitizen

Villified User
Would we get heavier ?

Gravity pulls us towards the center of the earth but centrifugal force from our spinning would be offsetting a bit of that I would think....

I know it would get cold on one side and hot on the other, Property vaues would crash on the extremes of both sides and property around the edges of the dark / light boundry would rise astronomically, etc , but that is not the point of this question.
 
We would have much bigger fish to fry than our weight. But that being said, we would not get "heavier".
 
If the world stopped spinning, I imagine we'd all fly west at about 700 MPH (depending on your location, beefy would be the fastest, froggie the slowest).
 
We'd all fall out into space. This is assuming that it slowed gradually to a stop. Otherwise, WM's prediction is closer to what would really happen. Either way, we'd be space popsicles.
 
Thorn said:
We'd all fall out into space. This is assuming that it slowed gradually to a stop. Otherwise, WM's prediction is closer to what would really happen. Either way, we'd be space popsicles.
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Wow, this thread is actually freaking me out a little bit.
 
we would not fall off becuase we would still have gravity. But if it stopped suddenly we would roll for a while. Oceans would slosh out of their basins, etc.
Inertia is a powerful force.
Economic inertia kept up the appearance of the US economy doing fine for quite a while.
 
The mass of the earth would still create the curvature in space that creates the gravity that keeps us down. We would not suddenly fly into space.
 
uscitizen said:
Yes Damo but would we be lighter since centrifugal force on us would no longer be happening?
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You'd think so, but not really. This is much like the airplane scenario. If you are in the plane flying along the same direction as the spin of the earth you are "spinning" even faster, yet you do not get lighter. The same curvature of space effects you while you are in the plane. The only way to temporarily "escape" it is to accelerate upwards then drop towards the earth. But then you are just "falling" at the same rate as the gravity is pressing on you so you only feel like you are "weightless" at that time. You have to get outside our gravity well to be effected when the earth is still the center of the effect you describe.

Now, when you spin a rock on a stick, for instance, the stick becomes the center and when you reach a certain speed you can create the centrifugal force you speak of...

I could go on forever.
 
Damocles said:
You'd think so, but not really. This is much like the airplane scenario. If you are in the plane flying along the same direction as the spin of the earth you are "spinning" even faster, yet you do not get lighter. The same curvature of space effects you while you are in the plane. The only way to temporarily "escape" it is to accelerate upwards then drop towards the earth. But then you are just "falling" at the same rate as the gravity is pressing on you so you only feel like you are "weightless" at that time. You have to get outside our gravity well to be effected when the earth is still the center of the effect you describe.

Now, when you spin a rock on a stick, for instance, the stick becomes the center and when you reach a certain speed you can create the centrifugal force you speak of...

I could go on forever.
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so centrifugal force require a string and stick?

I think not.

How about the spinning wheel space station concepts to simulate gravity?
No string involved there.
Or are yiou saying that gravity cancels centrifugal force out?
Well it does overpower it for us waking around on it. But for Brent's buddies it does not seem to for some reason. Walking around upside down in a hollow earth...

and I know you can go on forever.
 
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I did a google. here is the formula for figuring what you says does not exist Damo.

Balancing the equations of gravity or centripetal force vs. centrifugal force, we have:

astro3.gif


http://www.grantchronicles.com/astro09.htm

why do you think orbits happen?
 
uscitizen said:
so centrifugal force require a string and stick?

I think not.

How about the spinning wheel space station concepts to simulate gravity?
No string involved there.
Or are yiou saying that gravity cancels centrifugal force out?
Well it does overpower it for us waking around on it. But for Brent's buddies it does not seem to for some reason. Walking around upside down in a hollow earth...

and I know you can go on forever.
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Don't be so deliberately obtuse. It was an example. Even in HS they used those. If you don't understand ask more questions but don't be deliberately inane about it and try to put words other than what you read into it.


Centrifugal force takes an outward push from the center, not merely traveling along the spin. Again, you don't get lighter in the plane as you travel faster than the natural spin because you are not being thrown outwards as the rock on the string would be from the center of the stick. The surface is spinning, you travel along with it at the same pace, hence you don't suddenly fly huge amounts when you jump into the air. Again, like the airplane. If you were not traveling at the same velocity as the plane when you jumped into the air you'd smack into the back end of the plane at the same speed it was flying.

In short the plane is traveling using velocity, not centrifugal force, just as you are on the surface of the planet.

However we are. Because we are traveling with the surface and not at the end of a "tether" from the center the centrifugal "force" does not apply.

You ask for the explanation of the laws of gravity in one post on a message board. Some people take physics in college and don't quite get it.
 
Damocles said:
Don't be so deliberately obtuse. It was an example. Even in HS they used those. If you don't understand ask more questions but don't be deliberately inane about it and try to put words other than what you read into it.


Centrifugal force takes an outward push from the center, not merely traveling along the spin. Again, you don't get lighter in the plane as you travel faster than the natural spin because you are not being thrown outwards as the rock on the string would be from the center of the stick. The surface is spinning, you travel along with it at the same pace, hence you don't suddenly fly huge amounts when you jump into the air. Again, like the airplane. If you were not traveling at the same velocity as the plane when you jumped into the air you'd smack into the back end of the plane at the same speed it was flying.

In short the plane is traveling using velocity, not centrifugal force, just as you are on the surface of the planet.

However we are. Because we are traveling with the surface and not at the end of a "tether" from the center the centrifugal "force" does not apply.

You ask for the explanation of the laws of gravity in one post on a message board. Some people take physics in college and don't quite get it.
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Idjit, centrifugal force is in essence an invisible string from the center of the earth and attached to every object on it's surface.

Gravity and friction, etc just overcome the effects of the centrifugal force.
It IS there and is exerting force on us.

smack the back end of the plane? You forget inertia.

such a simple view of things....tsk, tsk.
 
uscitizen said:
I did a google. here is the formula for figuring what you says does not exist Damo.

Balancing the equations of gravity or centripetal force vs. centrifugal force, we have:

astro3.gif


http://www.grantchronicles.com/astro09.htm

why do you think orbits happen?
Click to expand...
Again, orbit is different than what you are talking about because the second body is traveling along because it is acting as the rock at the end of the string with the first body's gravity as it's central point. (actually two central points "orbiting" each other, but that is a digression that becomes unnecessary to the explanation at hand.)

We are NOT orbiting earth. We travel along at the velocity of the surface.
 
uscitizen said:
Idjit, centrifugal force is in essence an invisible string from the center of the earth and attached to every object on it's surface.

Gravity and friction, etc just overcome the effects of the centrifugal force.
It IS there and is exerting force on us.

smack the back end of the plane? You forget inertia.

such a simple view of things....tsk, tsk.
Click to expand...
No, it isn't. You are mistaken. We are NOT orbiting earth, elsewise it would be more difficult for us to walk against the "spin" and we'd need an incredible amount of energy to travel at 90 degrees to the spin. We ARE NOT orbiting the earth, we are traveling at the velocity of the surface. Just like in the airplane.
 
Air orbits the earth? Friction with the earth causes winds and climates, etc...
We orbit the earth too , it is just that gravity overpowers centrifugal force and holds us against the surface.
 
Damo = Republican = bipolar thought processes.
uscitizen = Independent dem= analog thought processes.

damo may processes are in effect, it is stupit to totally dismiss one just because the effect is negligable.
 
uscitizen said:
Air orbits the earth? Friction with the earth causes winds and climates, etc...
We orbit the earth too , it is just that gravity overpowers centrifugal force and holds us against the surface.
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We are not orbiting the earth, unless we are within the inertial mass of something that is also orbiting the earth.

Air is effected by the same rotational effect we are and it is not "orbiting" the planet, it is too close to the central mass to be orbiting.

We are well within the gravity well that would allow us to orbit the earth, because of that we follow the inertia of the surface, we are not "orbiting" on the surface.
 
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