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Tice
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A friend and I are having a debate on this and I just need to know yes or no, and why?
MikeyW said:So the scale measurement rises but your weight technically (as m*g) is unchanged.
That's not true, either. The Earth is not a sphere. It is an oblate spheroid. If the Earth were to stop spinning it would settle from this oblate spheroidal shape to a sphere. This would cause both the scale and freshman physics definitions of weight to increase (assuming you are standing at the equator).MikeyW said:So the scale measurement rises but your weight technically (as m*g) is unchanged.
Tice said:If the Earth were to stop spinning, would we weigh more?
A friend and I are having a debate on this and I just need to know yes or no, and why?
72Zorad said:I don't see any discussion here regarding the increased mass of a rotating body. Doesn't E=MC squared mean that any object in motion gains mass due to the kinetic energy. And if mass increases so does gravitational pull between the objects (earth and myself). Also, if the Earth stopped spinning I wouldn't have any centrifugal force from the spinning, right? Are both of these forces so small the difference would be negligible?
Thanks,
If the Earth were to suddenly stop spinning, the planet's rotation would come to an abrupt halt. This would result in a massive change in the Earth's atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns, causing extreme weather events and potentially catastrophic consequences for all living beings on the planet.
Technically, yes, we would weigh more if the Earth stopped spinning. This is because the Earth's rotation creates a centrifugal force that counteracts the force of gravity, making us feel lighter. Without the rotation, the centrifugal force would disappear, and we would feel the full force of gravity, causing us to weigh more.
The exact amount of weight we would gain if the Earth stopped spinning would depend on our location on the planet and our distance from the equator. On average, someone standing on the equator would gain about 0.3% of their body weight, while someone standing at the North or South Pole would not experience any weight gain at all.
No, the Earth's mass would remain the same even if it stopped spinning. While the rotation of the Earth does create a centrifugal force, this force does not affect the Earth's overall mass. Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object, and this remains constant regardless of the Earth's spin.
Yes, it is possible for the Earth to stop spinning, but it is highly unlikely to happen suddenly. The Earth's rotation is caused by its initial angular momentum, and for it to stop spinning, this momentum would have to be significantly altered. This could potentially occur due to a catastrophic event, but it is not something that could happen naturally.