<p>Two very different processes! First, if the Earth suddenly stopped rotating then the angular momentum would result in everyone and everything on the Earth's surface being flung sideways at a rate proportional to the distance from the Earth's spin axis. That is, no change at the poles, to 1670 km/hour at the equator. There would also be oceanic tsunami's which would sweep over all but the world's highest mountains. Or would they? The amount of energy required to suddenly halt the Earth's angular momentum is so great that its' dissipation would melt the Earths crust, and vaporize the oceans, so maybe there wouldn't be any oceans to form a tsunami, in which case we would all be caught up in a global cyclone of super-heated steam.
As for Earth ceasing to revolve around the sun, with no centripetal force to balance gravitational attraction we would simply start upon an accelerating drift towards the sun. However, If we assume that our moon stops orbiting the Earth-moon center of gravity, at the same time as Earth (presumably by the same hypothetical process as envisioned by the questioner), then long before we burn up with increasing proximity to the sun, the moon and Earth would collide, also by gravitational attraction.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-09-21T06:52:56.423Z
2015-09-21T06:52:56.423Z
Gordon Stanger
<p>Well, one side of the earth would heat up, while the other side would not. This would cause a very large thermal gradient, causing extreme wind speeds. Also, you would not have the Coriolis effect, destroying quasi-geostrophic theory.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T21:00:51.667Z
2015-08-29T21:00:51.667Z
BarocliniCplusplus
<p>What will happen if earth stops rotating as well revolving? Will we all be moving with its velocity? It should get displaced from its orbit and move in a tangential direction.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-16T06:56:50.617Z
@SemidiurnalSimon The Earth "rotates" about its axis (24 hrs) and "revolves" around the sun (365.25 days).
f.thorpe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-28T22:37:40.310Z
maybe this should be on astronomy SE?
f.thorpe
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T01:16:53.550Z
or even physics SE
Fred
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-29T05:33:42.370Z
related: http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/2236/725
Gimelist
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-30T06:39:27.820Z
I'm not sure what difference you mean between "rotating" and "revolving" - to me they're synonymous. But in any case, this strikes me as something for physics.se, or maybe xkcd what-if... ;-)
Semidiurnal Simon
<hypothetical><earth-rotation>
What would happen if Earth suddenly stopped rotating and revolving at the same time?
Chloritone_360
# What would happen if Earth suddenly stopped rotating and revolving at the same time?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-28)

What will happen if earth stops rotating as well revolving? Will we all be moving with its velocity? It should get displaced from its orbit and move in a tangential direction.

**Tags:** hypothetical, earth-rotation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: maybe this should be on astronomy SE?  
> **username_2**: or even physics SE  
> **username_3**: related: http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/2236/725  
> **username_4**: I'm not sure what difference you mean between "rotating" and "revolving" - to me they're synonymous. But in any case, this strikes me as something for physics.se, or maybe xkcd what-if... ;-)  
> **username_1**: @username_4 The Earth "rotates" about its axis (24 hrs) and "revolves" around the sun (365.25 days).  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2015-09-21. Score: 4

Two very different processes! First, if the Earth suddenly stopped rotating then the angular momentum would result in everyone and everything on the Earth's surface being flung sideways at a rate proportional to the distance from the Earth's spin axis. That is, no change at the poles, to 1670 km/hour at the equator. There would also be oceanic tsunami's which would sweep over all but the world's highest mountains. Or would they? The amount of energy required to suddenly halt the Earth's angular momentum is so great that its' dissipation would melt the Earths crust, and vaporize the oceans, so maybe there wouldn't be any oceans to form a tsunami, in which case we would all be caught up in a global cyclone of super-heated steam.
As for Earth ceasing to revolve around the sun, with no centripetal force to balance gravitational attraction we would simply start upon an accelerating drift towards the sun. However, If we assume that our moon stops orbiting the Earth-moon center of gravity, at the same time as Earth (presumably by the same hypothetical process as envisioned by the questioner), then long before we burn up with increasing proximity to the sun, the moon and Earth would collide, also by gravitational attraction.


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### Answer by username_6 on 2015-08-29. Score: 2

Well, one side of the earth would heat up, while the other side would not. This would cause a very large thermal gradient, causing extreme wind speeds. Also, you would not have the Coriolis effect, destroying quasi-geostrophic theory.


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