If the earth is slowly losing its spin speed will it eventually stop to a sudden halt?

Question

(I'm not saying its slowing down its them others) Only to be bumped into spinning the other way?

Just a thought from me I like to imagine all sorts of possibilities.

*snorts* hnmph-hnmph-hnmph

Answer 1

If that happens Moley it will be the best sight gag ever pulled. I can't help but laugh when I see someone trip or suddenly fall. This isn't a mean reaction most of us find it funny in the spit second it happens. Imagine everyone falling at once how hilarious that would be. Too bad there would no one left standing to get a laugh out of it.

I hope we get the sunny side. I don't want to die in the dark.

Answer 2

well if it does be prepared to float away.lol

Answer 3

It will get toasted before that. Also, ENGLISH ************, DO YOU SPEAK IT!?

Answer 4

Wellllll... it won't be "sudden".  In fact, the Earth will be destroyed by the sun before this happens - more than 5 billion years from now.  

currently, the moon orbits the Earth every 28 days or so.  As it does, it raises the tides on Earth, creating a 'tidal bulge'.  But, since the Earth is spinning *faster* than the moon orbits, this bulge is moved slightly *ahead* of the point where the moon is directly over on the Earth - and the bulge slightly accelerates the moon - adding energy to it's orbit - because of gravity.  Well, that energy has to come from somewhere, and it's from the Earth's energy of rotation: the Earth's rotational speed slows, the energy being transferred to the moon's orbit.

Eventually, (if there's time), the moon and the Earth will be tidally locked with each other - one side of the moon would face Earth, and one side of the Earth would face the moon.  However, this won't happen for 8.9 billion years - and I have the sun scheduled for it's Red Giant phase in just 5 billion.  

Answer 5

That's what all those billions of Chinese with bicycles are for Miss Moley... they just need a furry conductress to get 'em all riding in the same direction (or we might all get a wobble on!).

Answer 6

The rotation of many moons in the solar system including our own is "captured" so that the same face points towards the planet all the time.  Our moon has not stopped rotating but rotates once for every time is goes round us.

If the Earth's rotation is slowing it will eventually end up with one side facing the Sun all the time and the other side in darkness.

I don't think that this will happen before the sun expands and engulfs the Earth in 5 billion years time or so.

Answer 7

I think it depends of the quantity of turnips Canterbury's bishop is able to eat...

Answer 8

The operative word is "slowly". There is no "sudden" possible. And since it is a progressive decay, there will always be a bit of spin left. Eventually, over eons, the earth would stabilize its spin so that a part of it always faces the moon (with the moon in a much more distant and thus slower, orbit), just like the moon always shows the same face to earth now.

Answer 9

Define "sudden".

Answer 10

All rotating bodies slow down in their rotations over exceedingly long periods of time. This is due mainly to gravitational interactions with other bodies, in our case the moon.

The Earth will likely not stop rotating, as the slower it rotates, the less braking torque is applied to it.

It will take a very very long time to slow the Earth though as it has a staggering amount of momentum. Accoring to the first source, 2.663 * 10^40 Nm.

To give an idea of just how slowly the rotation of the Earth is slowing, "After 3.5 billion years the planet's rotation had slowed to 20.11 hours per day/night cycle and at a 100,000,000 years ago its rotation period had slowed to 23.6 hours" So in the last 100 MILLION years, the day has grown about 24 minutes longer.

Answer 11

Earth's moon-size inner core rotates faster than the rest of the planet.

Earth's iron core consists of a solid inner core about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) in diameter—about the size of the moon—and a fluid outer core measures about 4,200 miles (7,000 kilometers) across.

The inner core plays an important role in the geodynamo—the process that generates Earth's magnetic field....... do you care for a Brussel sprout cream soup?

Answer 12

sure, but then we put in another quarter and it spins again

Answer 13

The Earth's rotation is slowing down.  But there's no sudden stop. There's no stop at all. The energy of the Earth's rotation is going to increasing the Moon's orbit.  As the Moon gets farther from the Earth, it's time for an orbit increases.  When the Earth slows down so that it takes the same time to turn once that the Moon takes to go around once, then there is no more tidal action to continue slowing the Earth and altering the orbit of the Moon.  The Earth still rotates, and the Moon still orbits, but now the Earth has one face that faces the Moon, just as the Moon has one face that faces the Earth now.  It's called tidal locking.

This lockup doesn't take place until after the Sun has turned into a white dwarf star.  And since the Sun has to go through a Red Giant star phase first, and since that phase puffs up the Sun to about the size of the Earth's orbit, you'd expect that the Earth is then toast, and never gets to tide lock with the Moon, even after approximately 10 billion years of trying.

However, humans and their descendants may move the Earth to a larger orbit around the Sun.  They'll have every incentive to do so.  And the physics to do it are already pretty well understood.  You get a big asteroid, put it into a funky figure 8 loop around the Earth and Jupiter, and steal some of Jupiter's orbital energy to give to the Earth.  When the Sun shrinks to it's white dwarf phase, this process can be reversed.  And the Earth could have trillions of years of comfortable life to come.

What would happen to the Moon?  Whatever we want.  This project will make all previous projects ever attempted look insignificant in energy, scale and time duration.

Answer 14

Well if what your saying is true then of course! In couple of thousands of years it will eventually stop spinning I guess.  

Answer 15

"If Earth is SLOWLY losing its spin speed will it eventually stop to a SUDDEN halt?"

By definition, no, because like you said in your question, it is SLOWLY losing its spin speed.