The Earth spins on its own axis, with each consecutive rotation marking a whole day on the planet. According to astronomer Jacco Van Loon, of Keele University, the reason the Earth hasn’t stopped spinning is that there is no force present to stop it. He compared it to a spinning top and noted that because there is little to no friction in space, there is nothing to push against the blue planet and slow down its course.
The moon is the only celestial body that actively slows down the Earth.
This is because the motion of the side of the Earth that is facing the moon is not balanced perfectly by gravity, and neither is the side of Earth facing away from the moon.
According to Mr Van Loon, this imbalance is the force responsible for the ocean tides, which make the oceans bulge out on either side of the Earth.
These waves constantly push against the Earth’s rotating, slowing the planet down and lengthening its day by one second every 50,000 years.
Mr Van Loon warned that the only thing that could stop the earth from spinning is if another planet crashed into it.
However, even if this happened, it is more likely that the impact would only change the way Earth spins, not stop it altogether.
If the planet ever stopped spinning, there would be numerous significant changes to life on earth, assuming we survived the impact of the massive planet that stopped the Earth in its tracks.
Mr Van Loon confirmed that humans wouldn’t be launched into space due to the strong gravitational attraction keeping humans grounded and quite down to Earth.
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