4 ms·
Why would the earth speed up? Are we going downhill?
by feralimal 6y ago
Why would the earth speed up? Are we going downhill?
- spuz 6y agoIf the average mass of the earth moves from high to low elevation then the rotation of the earth will increase in order to preserve angular momentum. It's the same physics as an ice skater who spins faster when they move their arms close to their body.
- amelius 6y agoThat's one reason. Another reason could be that the Earth is not symmetric and the Moon is pulling it in some strange way. Or perhaps some people have installed lots of flywheel energy storage units [1] somewhere, all spinning in one direction. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel_energy_storage
- fuzzfactor 6y agoIf everybody puts on their running shoes and heads west fast enough that might be able to do it. I've commented about going downhill in unrelated messages where the vast majority is not trying to move anything but up.