Hey guys, what would happen if for exactly 1 second, the earth's gravity field changed. Instead of 9.8 m/s^2 toward the center of mass, it has 9.8 m/s^2 pointing east(except north and south pole, which have no gravity). After 1 second, it goes back to normal. How fucked are we, what happened?
>>7994787
Everything at rest and not fixed would move about 4.9 meters to the east.
>>7994794
How would this affect houses, infrastructure, ect? How short must buildings be to withstand this?
>>7994804
If we had an initial velocity going directly west it wouldn't be too bad, but those not holding onto something or moving east would definitely be in for a rough time.
>>7994804
What about people in flat land? They would just get dragged for a second before sliding a bit. Also, people in swimming pools, lakes, or oceans probably wouldn't even get injured at all, just sloshed a bit. People in basements, driving west or east in a straight line at the time, or in short, strengthened buildings like california might also survive.
>>7994787
Things near the poles would get fucked up hard.
Even though you've removed the singularity at the north pole exactly, what happens to things 1mm from the pole? What about 1 femtometre?
>>7994817
Crazy fucking vortexes bruh
>>7994816
Why wouldn't it just pick up a little angular momentum, shortening the day a bit? Because it's a almost everywhere smooth field, so it's not like certain areas will get ripped apart
>>7994830
A gravitational field is not just on the surface of the earth.
>>7994845
No shit, sherlock
>>7994787
Some shit. But I think one second is not enough to do serious damage.
>>7994787
It would rip the earth apart
>>7994806
>How short must buildings be to withstand this?
I don't think you understand the gravity of your question. *EVERYTHING* at rest and not fixed would move about 4.9 meters to the east.
>>7996004
For comparison, OP, think about the G forces present in an earthquake that starts a moderately sized tsunami.
>spinning at a high rate of speed and no centripetal force
Goodbye sweet crust
>>7994794
and then crash into something at about 35 kmh
