Curious Kids: could the Earth ever stop spinning, and what would happen if it did?

By Jacco van Loon, Astronomer, Keele University

Could the Earth stop spinning, and if it did, what would happen? – Paul, aged 12, Aberdeen, Scotland

The Earth has been spinning since its birth, four and a half billion years ago.

The Earth was made from rubble that was left over when the Sun formed from the collapse of a huge cloud of matter. The rubble that went on to become the Earth circled around the Sun like water does around the plughole when you empty a bathtub, spinning as it went.

The Earth continued…

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