If the EARTH stopped spinning....!

The probability for such an event is
practically zero in the next few billion
years. If the Earth stopped spinning
suddenly, the atmosphere would still
be in motion with the Earth's original
1100 mile per hour rotation speed at the equator. All of the land masses
would be scoured clean of anything
not attached to bedrock. This means
rocks, topsoil, trees, buildings, your
pet dog, and so on, would be swept
away into the atmosphere. If the process happened gradually
over billions of years, the situation
would be very different, and it is this
possibility which is the most likely as
the constant torquing of the Sun and
Moon upon the Earth finally reaches it's conclusion. If the rotation period
slowed to 1 rotation every 365 days a
condition called 'sun synchronous',
every spot in the Earth would have
permanent daytime or nighttime all
year long. This is similar to the situation on the Moon where for 2
weeks the front-side is illuminated by
the Sun, and for 2 weeks the back
side is illuminated. This situation for
the Earth is not the condition of
'stopped' rotation, but it is as close as the laws of physics will let the Earth
get. If it stopped spinning completely...not
even once every 365 days, you
would get 1/2 year daylight and 1/2
year nightime. During daytime for 6
months, the surface temperature
would depend on your latitude, being far hotter that it is now at the equator
than at the poles where the light rays
are more slanted and heating
efficiency is lower. This long-term
temperature gradient would alter the
atmospheric wind circulation pattern so that the air would move from the
equator to the poles rather than in
wind systems parallel to the equator
like they are now. The yearly change
in the Sun's position in the sky would
now be just its seasonal motion up and down the sky towards the south
due to the orbit of the Earth and its
axial tilt. As you moved along
constant lines of Earth latitude, you
would see the elevation of the Sun
increase or decrease in the sky just as we now see the elevation of the Sun
change from a single point on the
Earth due to the Earth's daily rotation. For example, if you were at a latitude
of +24 degrees North in the Summer
and at a longitude where the Sun was
exactly overhead, it would slide
gradually to the horizon as Fall
approached, but since the Sun has moved 90 degrees in its orbit, it
would now be due west. Then as we
approach Winter, you would now be
located on the dark side of the Earth,
and would have to travel in longitude
to a location 180 degrees around the Earth to see the Sun 1/2 way up the
sky because in the Winter, the Sun is
48 degrees south of its summer
location in the sky. It's a little
confusing, but if you use a globe of
the Earth and orient it the right way, you can see how all this works out. As for other effects, presumably the
magnetic field of the Earth is
generated by a dynamo effect that
involves its rotation. If the Earth
stopped rotating, it's magnetic field
would no longer be regenerated and it would decay away to some low,
residual value due to the very small
component which is 'fossilized' in its
iron-rich rocks. There would be no
more 'northern lights' and the Van
Allen radiation belts would probably vanish, as would our protection from
cosmic rays and other high-energy
particles.

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