On what if the world stopped spinning

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Cecil,
This being my first comment on the SD boards, I’m reluctant to question any of your writing. That said , you missed most of the ramifications of the earth ceasing it’s rotation.

On of the first things would be to determine the speed of deceleration. The sudden complete end of all rotational movement would likely result in major shifting in all objects attached to the earth’s surface.

Imagine the results from the earth going from 1000 mph to zero mph in say one microsecond. I think that almost everything on earth including all man made structures and natural features would attempt to continue along at 1000 mph for a little while.

After the dust settled, without any axial rotation, the day and year would be of equal length. It is possible that the Sun’s gravity would attempt to keep the same face of the earth always oriented toward it, but that would require one rotation per year.

I am not an astrophysisist, I just play one on t.v.

And the name is RIGGINBOY, stupid!

2

No doubt your are referring to http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961122a.html

Sitting back, sipping a nice merlot, waiting for the ambulance to come.

Thanks for dropping by.

3

Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment.
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site.
To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space before and after the text of the URL).

Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link provided by samclem.

moderator, «Comments on Cecil’s Columns»

4

By the way, the subject was also briefly discussed in these threads:

Earth Stops Spinning

Slug’s Illustration for The Earth Stops Spinning

5

Not clear who you’re talking to, old bean. If your username got misspelled during the registration process, all you gotta do to change it is to e-mail any moderator (TubaDiva is good at this, and isn’t expensive) and request a name change. No sweat. Her e-mail address is tubadiva@aol.com

Be that as it may, I agree with you that Cecil’s column covered hardly any of the practical ramifications of the Earth’s actually ceasing to spin. However, he’s not writing a “Mr. Wizard” script. He’s trying to be 50% informative and 50% amusing. I thought the column in question was amusing, and as for informative, well, I have to say that the part about how I’d actually weigh more if the earth ever stopped spinning got me so upset that I was hardly able to finish my 2 pound bag of Good N’ Plentys.

According to scientists, the earth will stop spinning in the year 2003, on January 16, to be specific. Early predictions called for it to happen “within the next 30 years”, but new data has changed that.

The original prediction: http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/archive/stories/1471.html

The revised prediction:http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/archive/stories/2057.html

6

Ahem.

Are these people smoking crack???

7

Yeah, Una, that’s kind of the point of Weekly World News.

8

Hey, Ginchy…that’s my birthday!

Whoo! Happy birthday to me!

9

In Brian Greene’s book The Elegant Universe (Vintage Books, 2000), he explains that the earth, with its liquid core, would explode if it stopped spinning.

I wish I could go into further detail, but I can’t seem to find a page number in my copy. If I find it, I’ll post it. If not, could somebody please help me?

10

Well, then, Tengu, I guess you’re gonna have one heckuva birthday party in 2003! :smiley:

11

Of far more concern in Cecil’s column is the line:

I would hope he’s kidding, but the Earth’s rotation doesn’t really affect the way water drains in a tub, sink or toilet. Check this out: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/coriolis.html

12

Hi, BA.

Yeah, the boss sometimes likes to include injokes to his prior columns to ensure that we acolytes are keeping up.

Here is Cecil on the Coriolis effect.

13

You wouldn’t happen to have a link to Cecil’s answer to where all the baby pigeons are, too, would you?

14

SpinneZiege, go to the straight dope home page (not the message board home page) and click on Search Archive at the top of the page to find past columns.

First version of the column:
Where are all the baby pigeons? (7-Nov-1975)
This column can also be found on pages 15-16 of Cecil Adams’ book «The Straight Dope».

Second version of the column:
Where are all the baby pigeons? (22-Mar-1985)
This column can also be found on pages 69-71 of Cecil Adams’ book «More of the Straight Dope».

While I’m at it, I’ll throw in a link to this column:
Where are all the dead pigeons? (20-May-1988)
This column can also be found on pages 83-85 of Cecil Adams’ book «The Straight Dope Tells All».

15

Reread the questions Cecil was answering. He was not asked to write about every possible result.