From: henry@spsystems.net (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.space.science,sci.misc
Subject: Re: Earth slowing down TANGENT
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 20:08:47 GMT

In article <7all6h$4cn$1@news2.tor.accglobal.net>,
Geoff Salmon <gsalmon@accglobal.net> wrote:
>I have wondered for quite some time... If the earths rotation were to stop
>completely (barring all the global catastrophes), what would the absence of
>centrifugal force do to our perception of weight?

Nothing.  The difference in weight of a given mass weighed at the poles
(no centrifugal force) and the equator (maximum centrifugal force) is
about half a percent.  That is much too small a difference to notice
unless the change happens suddenly or you are doing precise measurements.
--
The good old days                   |  Henry Spencer   henry@spsystems.net
weren't.                            |      (aka henry@zoo.toronto.edu)