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If everyone moved to one location, would the weight shift affect Earth's rotation or orbit?
by geetee 13y ago
If everyone moved to one location, would the weight shift affect Earth's rotation or orbit?
- richardwhiuk 13y agoNo. People are a massively insignificant part of the Earth's mass.
- cryptoz 13y agoYes, absolutely. Any change in the distribution of the density of mass will change the mechanics of Earth's rotation. I'm unsure if the orbit would be affected, but I assume so - since the rotational energy will be different, I expect the orbit would be too. Could we measure those changes? Not sure. The changes are probably too small for us to detect, but on the other hand, we have some pretty incredible instruments.
- ricardobeat 13y agoOur collective weight is insignificant next to almost anything else. If I recall correctly, even the biomass of ants is greater than of all humans.
- alcari 13y agoTake a few moments to read [1]. It should answer your question. [1]: http://what-if.xkcd.com/8/ http://what-if.xkcd.com/8/