# what would happen if the earth suddenly stopped spinning?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 22, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135 "2003-07-22T13:20:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rodmunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@rodmunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rodmunch)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135/1 "2003-07-22T13:20:03Z")

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what would happen if the earth suddenly stopped spinning? i mean 1 second its spinning normally, the next second it had stopped spinning.  
would everyone be thrown from the surface of the earth? would we all be really dizzy like when your on a roundabout you dont feel dizzy until it stops?  
would any other major things happen?

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**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135/2 "2003-07-22T13:26:44Z")

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answered by [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961122a.html)

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135/3 "2003-07-22T13:29:27Z")

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Complete and utter disaster. That was the kicker at the end of the H.G. Wells short story **The Man Who Could Work Miracles** and as depicted so graphically in the film based on that story:  
[http://us.imdb.com/Title?0029201](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0029201)

I’ve since read that it’s theoretically possible to slow the earth down in a relatively short time without this kind of disaster (no one ever says _how_. Especially not Immanuel Velikovsky.) , but suddenly stopping a moving earth without stopping the people, plants, dirt, water, air, etc. is just askin’ for trouble. Work out the speed at the earth’s surface – it’s a hell of a lpt faster than a car can drive or Brendan Fraser can run.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-the-earth-suddenly-stopped-spinning/190135/4 "2003-07-22T13:31:44Z")

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If somehow just the solid part stopped (suddenly), then we’d have massive catastrophic tidal waves, a person at the equator would (seem to) be catapulted Eastward at hundreds of miles per hour.

But if _everything_ was suddenly deprived of rotational energy, then an Cecil says, we’d just get a little heavier.

Oh and days and nights would last six months.