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<p>Does Earth's rotation cause any structural changes in the Earth?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>TL;DR: From the upper atmosphere to the Earth's core.</p>
<p>The upper atmosphere rotates with the Earth. There are signs (which some debate) that it rotates faster than does the Earth. This is definitely the case with Venus's upper atmosphere, which not only rotates faster than does Venus, it also rotates opposite the direction of the rotation of Venus's very slow surface rotation.</p>
<p>The Earth's rotation makes the troposphere split into six cells, three in each hemisphere: a Hadley cell, a Ferris cell, and a polar cell. Venus, with its slow rotation has two Hadley cells, one per hemisphere that reach from the equator almost to a pole. Jupiter, with its fast rotation, has twenty cells, ten in each hemisphere, a Hadley cell, eight Ferris cells, and one polar cell.</p>
<p>The Earth's rotation results in a tidal bulge that makes the distance from the center of the Earth to the equator be 21 kilometers greater than the distance from the center of the Earth to the North Pole.</p>
<p>The Earth can only undergo an ice age when a continental tectonics plate happens to settle over one of the poles. The Earth is in an ice age right now because Antarctica settled over the South Pole about 70 million years ago. (An ice age is distinct from a glaciation. We are currently still in an ice age, as evidenced by the ice sheets over Antarctica and Greenland.) When all of the the continental plates are far from a pole the entire Earth is quite warm.</p>
<p>Deeper in the Earth, the Earth's rotation is partially responsible for the Earth's magnetic field. A sufficient heat transfer rate across the core-mantle boundary apparently is also essential. But without any rotation whatsoever (with respect to the stars) there would be no magnetic field.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-03T22:22:44.687Z
2022-04-03T22:22:44.687Z
David Hammen
<p>I tried searching for this and while all results talks about changes of day and night, impact on direction of wind, cyclones, etc, they do not say whether it causes any structural changes in the long run nor say that it does not have any impact either.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-04-03T21:14:00.970Z
others will be able to answer with documented and peer reviewed facts. I'll jump in early with what I know. The earth is not a perfect sphere because of its rotation about its north/south axis. The spin causes the earth to bulge outward at the equator, in effect pulling the north and south poles towards the earth center.  Other 'structural effects' may also occur. I do not know how rotation affects plate tectonics (continental drift).
BradV
<earth><rotation>
Does Earth's rotation cause any structural changes in the Earth?
user96551
# Does Earth's rotation cause any structural changes in the Earth?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-04-03)

I tried searching for this and while all results talks about changes of day and night, impact on direction of wind, cyclones, etc, they do not say whether it causes any structural changes in the long run nor say that it does not have any impact either.

**Tags:** earth, rotation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: others will be able to answer with documented and peer reviewed facts. I'll jump in early with what I know. The earth is not a perfect sphere because of its rotation about its north/south axis. The spin causes the earth to bulge outward at the equator, in effect pulling the north and south poles towards the earth center.  Other 'structural effects' may also occur. I do not know how rotation affects plate tectonics (continental drift).  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-04-03. Score: 2

> Does Earth's rotation cause any structural changes in the Earth?

TL;DR: From the upper atmosphere to the Earth's core.

The upper atmosphere rotates with the Earth. There are signs (which some debate) that it rotates faster than does the Earth. This is definitely the case with Venus's upper atmosphere, which not only rotates faster than does Venus, it also rotates opposite the direction of the rotation of Venus's very slow surface rotation.

The Earth's rotation makes the troposphere split into six cells, three in each hemisphere: a Hadley cell, a Ferris cell, and a polar cell. Venus, with its slow rotation has two Hadley cells, one per hemisphere that reach from the equator almost to a pole. Jupiter, with its fast rotation, has twenty cells, ten in each hemisphere, a Hadley cell, eight Ferris cells, and one polar cell.

The Earth's rotation results in a tidal bulge that makes the distance from the center of the Earth to the equator be 21 kilometers greater than the distance from the center of the Earth to the North Pole.

The Earth can only undergo an ice age when a continental tectonics plate happens to settle over one of the poles. The Earth is in an ice age right now because Antarctica settled over the South Pole about 70 million years ago. (An ice age is distinct from a glaciation. We are currently still in an ice age, as evidenced by the ice sheets over Antarctica and Greenland.) When all of the the continental plates are far from a pole the entire Earth is quite warm.

Deeper in the Earth, the Earth's rotation is partially responsible for the Earth's magnetic field. A sufficient heat transfer rate across the core-mantle boundary apparently is also essential. But without any rotation whatsoever (with respect to the stars) there would be no magnetic field.


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