If the world stopped turning...

[rjben]

Am I correct in assuming that we would become heavier due to the loss of centrifugal force acting upon us? If so, how much? Let's assume that this happened very slowly so that we don't all suffer the effects of an abrupt change from 600mph to 0....

[Eric Mc]

It would melt.

[R300will]

There is no such thing as centrifugal force. Centripetal force is the one i think you are referring to.

ETA: i think one side would roast and the other freeze which would probably crack the crust up a treat so seismic activity would increase amongst other things previously mentioned.

[rjben]

Wouldn't Centripetal force be the force of gravity required to oppose the centrifugal force? Sorry, don't know much about this?

By the way, I wasn't so concerned with what would eventually happen, just how much heavier everything would be (thanks for the 0.3 % answer!).

[R300will]

rjben said:

Wouldn't Centripetal force be the force of gravity required to oppose the centrifugal force? Sorry, don't know much about this?

By the way, I wasn't so concerned with what would eventually happen, just how much heavier everything would be (thanks for the 0.3 % answer!).

No centripetal force is the force which pulls you to the centre of a rotating object. If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

[Simpo Two]

R300will said:

No centripetal force is the force which pulls you to the centre of a rotating object. If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

That's funny, roundabouts always tried to push me off the outside... so there is a force more powerful than centripetal. Always thought it was centrifugal - as in centrifuge, throwing stuff to the outside...

[R300will]

Simpo Two said:

R300will said:

No centripetal force is the force which pulls you to the centre of a rotating object. If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

That's funny, roundabouts always tried to push me off the outside... so there is a force more powerful than centripetal. Always thought it was centrifugal - as in centrifuge, throwing stuff to the outside...

That is your car wanting to carry on at a tangent to the circle you are trying to make it go. The force you are feeling 'pushing' you to the outside is simply your car losing grip and falling away from the circular path.

ETA the 'pushing' feeling is also a reaction force to the centripetal force pulling you in which can be described as centrifugal however i believe it is a fictitious force

Edited by R300will on Tuesday 7th February 23:17

[carmonk]

Simpo Two said:

R300will said:

No centripetal force is the force which pulls you to the centre of a rotating object. If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

That's funny, roundabouts always tried to push me off the outside... so there is a force more powerful than centripetal. Always thought it was centrifugal - as in centrifuge, throwing stuff to the outside...

It's just that your body 'tries' to keep moving in a straight line, so if the walls of the ride were to vanish you'd shoot off at a tangent and not directly out from the centre.

[R300will]

Bedazzled said:

R300will said:

If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

Yes but if you let go of the roundabout you fall outwards because your inertia carries you away from the centre; we're using centrifugal force to describe the outward 'push' (inertial force) experienced by objects on the surface. If the Earth was spinning fast enough we wouldn't even stay on the surface, we would reach escape velocity!

You don't fall outwards you carry on at a tangent to the circle of motion that you were travelling in. Centrifugal force is fictitious however there is such a thing as reactive centrifugal force which is the equal and opposite component of the centripetal force which can give you the pushing feeling when you are following a curved path. As you are constantly accelerating towards the centre of the circle you are being accelerated away be the reaction force.

[R300will]

Bedazzled said:

R300will said:

You don't fall outwards you carry on at a tangent to the circle of motion that you were travelling in. Centrifugal force is fictitious however there is such a thing as reactive centrifugal force which is the equal and opposite component of the centripetal force which can give you the pushing feeling when you are following a curved path. As you are constantly accelerating towards the centre of the circle you are being accelerated away be the reaction force.

Tedious wiki semantics; the OP is right objects on the surface will feel heavier as the Earth's rotation slows.

You mean basic physics. And yes objects will feel heavier if the earth stops rotating.

[don4l]

R300will said:

If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

No, you don't.

[R300will]

don4l said:

R300will said:

If you spin on a roundabout you experience centripetal force pulling you into the middle.

No, you don't.

yes you do

[R300will]

Bedazzled said:

R300will said:

There is no such thing as centrifugal force

but wait...

R300will said:

there is such a thing as reactive centrifugal force

semantics, not physics

Its complicated but in essence it is a fictitious force and therefore it does not exist and depending on what frame you are viewing the object moving in a circular path you will observe different effects that can be labelled as centrifugal such as the intertial force or the reactive force.

[jmorgan]

I thought we would all fly off....

[Simpo Two]

Bedazzled said:

Well there's no centrifugal force at the poles so that would certainly make life interesting for explorers!

That must be why explorers find it so difficult - the closer they get to the poles, the heavier they get

[Simpo Two]

Retro rockets.

[jmorgan]

It is happening now. People must wake up to this, the planet is slowing down. It is all the wind farms, look at them, they work the wrong way and are sucking the energy out of the revolutions. They should be stopped before it is too late.

[Hugo a Gogo]

Eric Mc said:

It would melt.

R300will said:

ETA: i think one side would roast and the other freeze which would probably crack the crust up a treat so seismic activity would increase amongst other things previously mentioned.

if it stopped rotating in the way that the moon 'doesn't rotate', ie became tidal locked and rotated once a year, so one face was always facing the sun

but what if it stayed still, so you would have a 6 month 'day' and 6 month 'night'?

iced over, then melted and dried out then iced up again, or would the water go away some how?

presumably the poles wouldn't be much different

[jmorgan]

I was think there was a reference to the core there somewhere rather than facing the sun.

[Hugo a Gogo]

I completely missed bedazzled's post, all good points

basically, we'd be fked