What would happen if the earth started to spin the other way

It's a reference to the first Superman movie with Chris Reeves...Lois is killed in an earthquake, and he flys around the Earth backwards making it spin in the other direction...thereby reversing time...saving Lois.

Which is impossible, and actually it's a really, really stupid idea, but I love the movie, and Superman, so I deal with it as best I can.

The biggest difference would probably be direction of the prevailing winds.
The jet stream would blow the other direction. A lot of storms follow the jet stream. It would affect weather patterns but hard to predict how. Climate would certainly change for inland areas.

neppah dluow sgniht dreiw ynaM

In order for the world to spin the other way it would have to slow down to a stop then start spinning the other way. I think that would make a real mess.

won thgir yaw rehto eht gninnips mI

nice to see you 2packs!

yes nick, it would be really messy, like if you were eating oatmeal it would fall on your lap.

farmer....stop.....you're making me dizzy......ooooo....(sit's down on ground and holds onto the earth)

the slowdown to a stop part already happened once, according to Joshua in the Old Testament:



and in 2 Kings 20, it went back 10 degrees:

Verily Gordon Lightfoot lyrics - (Sayeth unto you)

10 Degrees And Getting Colder

He was standin' by the highway with a sign that just said Mother!
When he heard a driver comin'
Bout a half a mile away
Then he held the sign up higher,
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by bolder dam that day
He was raised up in Milwaukee-
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician-
To the taverns he would go
Singin' songs about the ramblin'-
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders-
Back in Boulder I don't know
It was out in Arizona-
That he heard the lady listening
To each word that he was sayin'-
To each line that he would write
So he sat downby her table and
They talked about the weather
Ninety-eight point six and risin'-
Down by Boulder dam that day
And she told him she would take him-
For a ridein the mornin' sun,
Back in Boulder he had told her,
I don't know when I had a better friend
Now he's traded off his Martin-
But his troubles are not over
For his feet are almost frozen-
And the sun is sinkin' low
Won't you listen to me brother-
If you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder-
If you're goin'
Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder-
Down by Boulder dam today

I'll play this game. If an "outside force" magically caused the Earth to immediately start spinning in reverse, the first effect you would notice is humongous tidal flooding, as well as tremendous geological activity...new mountains as the crust of the Earth itself moved was bunched up, and many new volcanoes. The surface and ocean temperature would also be dramatically heated due to the intense friction of the crust. This would lead into a bunch of those catastrophic predictions you hear linked to global warming. It could even lead to a runaway greenhouse effect causing all of the planet's water to be evaporated, raising the temperature to extremely high numbers melting everything, and the hydrogen to escape into space, followed by subsequent freezing and oxidation of the planet, leaving a frigid arid and lifeless red rock much like Mars.

whoa, maybe I should rethink initiating my world reverse defrugtromator.

I set it on a timer, let's hope it's not too late.

ummm....now what was that access password again?....

Oh yeah and Chai, even if none of that happens, it will cause the Earth to slowly increase it's orbit distance from the sun, causing it to cool over time. Earth might end up becoming a moon of Jupiter or Saturn, or, if the sun does not go die out by the time it gets far enough away, Earth might reach escape velocity and be hurtled across the galaxy to be captured by some other distant solar system. Actually it might get trapped in the asteroid belt...I don't know, it all depends on math I haven't worked out.

...don't know what would happen if earth starts to spin the other way ...(will we all be thrown of the rollercoaster ?).

i've read a number of scientific articles that predict a "pole reversal" is much more likely to happen .
i know that some german universities have looked at this and come up with scenarios - apparently we would likely survive , but communication systems would be degraded .
hbg


...POLE REVERSAL...
...anyone want to come along for the ride

here is another - somewhat more scientific - explanation by the british geological survey on the
...MAGNETIC FLIP...

apparently these 'flips ' have taken place a number of times during the lifespan of the earth ... oh , oh , here comes another one .
hbg

I wish you knew what you were talking about but you have no clue what you are, in fact talking about. For starters, the earth has not always spun in the direction that it is spinning in now. The earth is spinning the way it is spinning now because of the way the sun's magnetic fields are positioned. Just like a magnet attracting a magnet, the sun attracts our planet in the same way. With that said, every 50,000 years or so when the sun its at its solar maximum, there is so much force built up that the sun's magnetic field will switch, and north will be south and south will be north. With that being said, because the suns poles have shifted, the magnetic force from the sun will actually slow earth down until it stops, and earth will start spinning the opposite direction. Next, if you did not know, the earth spins at approximately 1,000 miles an hour. Hence why it takes 1 full day for the earth to do a full rotation. The question is not what will happen if the earth started to spin the other way, but what will happen when the earth spins the other way, because the next polar shift is in fact supposed to take place in 2012, and no I do not support the Mayan calendar of the world ending in 2012, but I do think the 2 events are linked together. So seeing as the earth rotates at 1000 miles an hour, the questions I want to know is, how long will it take the earth to stop spinning, how long before it starts spinning again, and what will the collateral damage be, I.E. what will happen to the tectonic plates due to inertia as the earth comes to a halt, what will happen to the oceans as the earth stops, (i can see inertia being VERY bad here) and, earthquakes have been known to trigger volcanic eruptions when they are close enough to a volcano, so with that being said, if the tectonic plates do collide as the earth stops spinning, it would cause earthquakes across the world, and in so doing could possibly set off a chain of eruptions as well. I do not support doomsday bull but if you look at the facts, the question still does remain, what will happen when the earth does change its rotational pattern. You should look into polar shifts, Google has just about everything, you might learn a thing or 2.

So, you're one of those fiction writers dropping in for a quick critique?

It's like a drive by posting. Just over five years late though. Must be waiting for the earth to start spinning the other direction . . .

Since he has us spinning like the armature in a really big motor because of the magnetic fields, I'm waiting to start flipping end over end instead of rotating roughly around the magnetic poles.

Yeah, he's Mr. One-Only-Post!