What if the Earth Stopped Spinning?

What would happen if the earth stopped spinning, but continued to rotate around the sun?

Do not worry, that is not going to happen anytime soon. We are safe for billions of years. If the earth did stop spinning, for starters, we would have 3 months of darkness, dawn and sun.

Naturally, most plant life wouldn’t survive.

The difference in temperature between the light and dark side of the earth would create huge changes in wind and ocean currents. Ocean waves would rise as tsunamis and shift towards the poles and result in land emerging in the part near the equator. The ocean would spread over Northern Canada and Northern Siberia.

The atmosphere would keep moving at 1000 mph speeds, mowing down mountains and cities. Anything that is not attached to bedrock would fly along. That would include soil, rocks, animals, buildings, etc. We humans would end up flying with the wind too. The highest winds near the surface of the earth would slow down in a few minutes, due to friction with the ground, but that would still be enough for them to do great damage. The sudden stop of the wind would heat the air up, causing storms where the air is moist and immense heat over land.

The wind would atomize the surface of the ocean into spray. The cold water of the ocean, when it would meet the hot wind, would create a new kind of weather consisting of fog, wind, spray that would keep changing quickly. Ocean life would find it tough to survive. Dolphins would find it difficult to breathe.

It is believed that the magnetic field of the earth is influenced by its rotation. If the earth stopped rotating, the magnetic field would not be regenerated and limited to the magnetic field generated by its rocks rich in iron that are fossilised. We would no longer be able to see the Northern Lights. We would also no longer be protected from high energy particles like the radioactive rays of the sun.

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