Thread: thrown off
View Single Post
  #8  
Old June 21st 13, 04:04 PM posted to sci.astro
Mike Dworetsky
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 715
Default thrown off

dlzc wrote:
Dear r_dela...:

On Thursday, June 20, 2013 7:28:24 PM UTC-7,
wrote:
How fast would the earth have to spin, so that stuff
started flying off?


Others have given you an answer based on the Earth being a solid body
with its current shape.

The Earth is like a creme filled chocolate, and if you even tried to
double its speed, it would lobe up, and spin off another Moon. Even
a 50% increase would be pretty disastrous.

David A. Smith


If by double its speed, you mean an equatorial velocity of 0.93 km/s, it
would have only a very small effect (slightly more oblate) and in fact the
Earth probably had such a speed a very long time ago. The idea that the
Earth "spun off" the Moon is very old and nowadays pretty well discredited.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)