• Question: if the earth stops spinning will we all die?

    Asked by sianxx to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I don’t think so, but it would create amazing problems, most animals and plants are designed to function in a day containing both light and darkness, if the earth didn’t rotate then it would be permanently day and night on opposite sides of the earth!

      we would need to develop methods of farming to compensate for this, and the whole ecosystem would be thrown into chaos

      I think like many of these ‘big events’ it would not wipe humanity out, but would change everything in a very big way!

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      A lot of weird stuff would happen! Our weather would change a lot because the rotation of the Earth is a big ingredient in the weather systems we get in the UK. Without the rotation things would look very different!

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I can’t really add much to what Angus and Simon have already said!
      I agree it probably wouldn’t mean the end of humanity, but I think it would mean the end of things as we know them now!

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      It would certainly change life on Earth, and would pose immense problems to mankind. We could maybe overcome these problems, but I am not sure what exactly the effects would be – interesting question!

    • Photo: Hannah Bentham

      Hannah Bentham answered on 25 Jun 2013:

      Conversely I would say it’s more than likely that we will all die, as we may find our Earth’s natural shield is affected.

      The Earth’s rotation plays a role in how the magnetic field is generated. Convection in the fluid outer core is caused by solidification of iron onto the inner core (the inner core is growing) but the rotation of the Earth causes the fluid flow to be helical. It’s thought that this fluid motion twists and shears the magnetic field, generating new magnetic field to replace that which diffuses away. So with no replacement, then our geodynamo would die away. With reduced or no magnetic field, strong cosmic radiation would get in and we would not be able to survive that.

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