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| srdriggers |
 Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject: Writing a Earth Disaster story and have a few questions |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 31 Jan 2008
Posts: 1
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As the title says I am in the research stage of an Earth disaster story and thought this might be the place to try and get some answers. Please, if this should be in a different forum just let me know. I am not trying to offend or off center the discussion.
The premise: The Earth has started rotating on its Vertical Axis versus its horizontal one.
The reason: Some seismic shift perhaps or some other natural action that causes the change to occur. I haven't solved this part yet so I am open to suggestions. 
My questions:
1. If such a change in rotation did occur is it logical to assume it would occur instantaneously and if so what kind of environmental changes would occur?
2. Would a slow change be more realistic? Like each day the equatorial rotation degrades by so many degrees and in a week or two it is pole over pole rotation ?
3. Since it would be rotating pole over pole it would seem to me that we would develop a light side and a dark side to the planet. Correct?
4. What other kind of changes would be assumed if such a rotation shift did occur?
5. Any other ideas or comments?
I know these are rather broad questions and I appreciate all input. This won't be a commercial story but I can assure you The Science Forum will get a definite link and BIG THANKS for helping out.
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srdriggers
Researching theory and possibilities for a new totally amateur fiction piece. |
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| Bunbury |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Masters Degree
Joined: 26 Sep 2007
Posts: 528
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| You should read The Hab Theory first. |
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| Dimension |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: Writing a Earth Disaster story and have a few questions |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 83
Location: Canada
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| srdriggers wrote: |
My questions:
1. If such a change in rotation did occur is it logical to assume it would occur instantaneously and if so what kind of environmental changes would occur?
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Since Newtons laws state that objects in motion tend to stay in motion it's highly unlikely that the earth would just stop spinning one way and start spinning another. It would have to be a gradual change. As for climate changes that would depend on whether or not the earths axis would still be tilted the way it is now. There certainly would be a change in certain places but as to the overall climate of the planet, other than for the first while (a few thousand years) while everything is adjusting, probably not a major difference.I think the weather patterns would stay mostly the same just be in different areas of the world, although I could be wrong.
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2. Would a slow change be more realistic? Like each day the equatorial rotation degrades by so many degrees and in a week or two it is pole over pole rotation ?
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Yes a slow change is more realistic but on the time scale the earth operates under a week or two is pretty much instantaneous. Barring some sort of catastrophic event that sort of change would take millions of years
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3. Since it would be rotating pole over pole it would seem to me that we would develop a light side and a dark side to the planet. Correct?
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We already have a light and dark side. It's called day and night. It would really depend on the orientation of the axis. If the axis were pointed directly at the sun then yes you would have nearly permanent light on one side and near permanent darkness on the other. If the axis was perpendicular to that however it would really only change the way in which the sun rises and sets.
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4. What other kind of changes would be assumed if such a rotation shift did occur?
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Most likely it would cause massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and the like although to be honest I'm not entirely certain as I'm not a geologist
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5. Any other ideas or comments?
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It is an interesting concept. I'd like to read the final product.
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"People shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people." |
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| Nevyn |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:24 pm Post subject: Re: Writing a Earth Disaster story and have a few questions |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 21 Jan 2007
Posts: 827
Location: UK
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| srdriggers wrote: |
As the title says I am in the research stage of an Earth disaster story and thought this might be the place to try and get some answers. Please, if this should be in a different forum just let me know. I am not trying to offend or off center the discussion.
The premise: The Earth has started rotating on its Vertical Axis versus its horizontal one.
The reason: Some seismic shift perhaps or some other natural action that causes the change to occur. I haven't solved this part yet so I am open to suggestions.
My questions:
1. If such a change in rotation did occur is it logical to assume it would occur instantaneously and if so what kind of environmental changes would occur? |
There is no reason for the earth to suddenly change it's axis, to do so another forces (meteor and such such) would have to affect the earth
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| 2. Would a slow change be more realistic? Like each day the equatorial rotation degrades by so many degrees and in a week or two it is pole over pole rotation ? |
depends on the conditions i.e. the first force that changed the spin
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| 3. Since it would be rotating pole over pole it would seem to me that we would develop a light side and a dark side to the planet. Correct? |
no, the planet would still ROTATE, rotation and movement on an axis are different
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| 4. What other kind of changes would be assumed if such a rotation shift did occur? |
season shifts, dramatic climate chage, that kind of apocalyptic stuff.
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| serpicojr |
| Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 17 Jul 2007
Posts: 853
Location: JRZ
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| If the earth were to rotate along an axis lying in the ecliptic plane, then the axis of rotation would point toward the sun at some times and would be perpendicular to such an orientation at others. So, during solstices, one hemisphere would get all light, the other all dark; during equinoxes, days would be pretty similar to how we experience them now. |
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| KALSTER |
| Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:49 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 1486
Location: South Africa
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The earth is slighty flattened, as you probably know, as a result of its axial spin. If the axis changed, the angular momentum would flatten it another way. I'd imagine that eaqrthquakes and volcanic eruptions would kill most of us and then the nuclear winter would kill the rest. I cannot imagine how this could happen though. Maybe a near miss from a rouge planet or something, although I think the earth would then spin on more than one axis for a while. IMHO
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