what would happen if the earth stopped spinning

I am very curious about what would happen if the earth stopped spinning and would like to hear your guys opinions
We would no longer have gravity hold us down and would float up along with everything else is my guess🤣
 

Looks OK today.

world spinning.gif
 

Earth's gravity comes from its mass, not it's spin, and that would be unchanged.
Thanks, I'm not awake yet, 😴 :coffee2: and was having trouble saying that in less than a paragraph... 🤪

My example would be tidally-locked bodies. They don't spin (much) yet maintain their gravity.
 

No. It would need something very large indeed. The Chicxulub impactor on what is now the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico is estimated to have been about 10 kilometers in diameter and travelling at around 20 kilometers per second. It was probably one of several factors that led to the demise of the dinosaurs and other extinctions, but the Earth carried on spinning.

Probably the largest impactor for which we can provide a reasonable estimate was the Vredefort impactor on what is now South Africa, which was around 10-15 kilometers in diameter and travelling at around 15–25 kilometres per second. That was around 4 billion years ago when Earth didn’t yet have any life, but it didn’t stop Earth from spinning.

Even the proposed Mars-sized impactor Theia, which may have created our Moon, didn’t stop us from spinning.
ok how about one the size of Earth's moon
 

Even the proposed Mars-sized impactor Theia, which may have created our Moon, didn’t stop us from spinning.
ok how about one the size of Earth's moon
Theia was theoretically the size of Mars--over twice the size of the Moon, and about 8X the mass. If that didn't/couldn't stop the earth from spinning (It may have slowed it down--IDK) then a much smaller body the size of the Moon wouldn't.
 

ok how about one the size of Earth's moon

Theia was theoretically the size of Mars--over twice the size of the Moon, and about 8X the mass. If that didn't/couldn't stop the earth from spinning (It may have slowed it down--IDK) then a much smaller body the size of the Moon wouldn't.

Computer-modelling for the Theia-impact hypothesis suggests that, prior to the impact, the lifeless proto-Earth was spinning at a rate that created a 5-hour day. After the impact, Earth’s spin was significantly faster, with a day closer to 2 hours and Earth’s orientation close to ‘upright’ with respect to the ecliptic. If the trajectory for Theia had been different, the result might have been different too, and Earth’s spin might have been slowed down rather than speeded up. But we’re talking about an extremely large impactor, as reiterated by @Bucket Lister

The creation of the Moon, and it’s continued presence, has a moderating effect on the ‘wobble’ arising from the slightly tilted axis and also progressively slightly reduces Earth’s spin. That, together with inherent loss of momentum over time has progressively lengthened Earth's day to about 18 hours around 1.4 billion years ago, through to the 24-hour day we experience at the moment. The reduction in spin will continue over the next billions of years, with the Moon’s effect gradually diminishing because it is slowly moving away from us.
 

I would be taking bets on "Sunny Side," "Dark Side," and "Just Right Zone," then spend it all on Weed, Jim Beam, and High Priced Hookers!
 

We would all float out into space.

No, we wouldn't. Earth's gravity would not disappear and would keep us close to the surface. However, if it were a sudden event, Earth's atmosphere would continue to circulate around the planet, creating winds up to 1,000 miles an hour. All the small loose stuff, including people, would be swept off the surface into a low orbit around Earth, but not with sufficient velocity to escape its gravitational pull and float off into space.
 

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so what would kill us

Is that a question?

There would be no prospect for humans to survive cessation of Earth's rotation, whether it happened suddenly or gradually, except in the very short term. Even if it happened at some distant point in the future and we had developed technologies for robust deep underground shelters the size of cities, artificial food production and alternative energy sources, the outlook would be bleak.

There are multiple possible (but unlikely) other scenarios which could destroy the human race with impacts from very large asteroids or other cosmic objects probably at the top of the list for natural events. More likely, humanity will be destroyed by it's own hand, I would say.
 

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