Calculated by the lab
- Sidereal rotation period
- Orbital quantities that are independent of the spin change
🛑 Stop the spin
Slow Earth's rotation almost to a stop, then compare the period with teaching overlays.
The long rotation period is computed; climate response is illustrated.
Building the laboratory: star, orbit, planet, atmosphere...
What actually happens
This scenario reduces Earth's rotation rate to 0.003 times its present value. The lab computes a very long sidereal rotation period and the globe turns almost imperceptibly. A sidereal rotation period is measured against the stars and is not automatically the same as the solar day seen from the surface.
A real slowly rotating planet could develop large day-to-night temperature contrasts and very different circulation, depending on its atmosphere, oceans, orbit, and thermal inertia. Those regional climate and Coriolis responses are not part of this global energy-balance calculation.
The temperature wash illustrates persistent heating on the star-facing side and cooling on the long night side. The wind layer draws a schematic day-to-night circulation loop: air rises over the warmer side, travels toward the colder side, sinks there, and returns near the surface. Both are teaching heuristics, not computed regional temperatures, wind speeds, or a weather forecast.
How the simulation unfolds
Each step is labeled so you can tell a calculated result from an explanatory visual or wider scientific context.
- Changed input
Reduce the rotation rate
Earth is set to rotate at 0.003 times its present rate.
- Computed
The sidereal period lengthens
The lab derives the time for one turn relative to the stars from the rotation input.
- Illustrated
Persistent heating and a circulation loop appear
Slow motion, a star-facing temperature wash, and an illustrated day-to-night circulation loop show a plausible consequence without solving regional climate.
- Scientific context
Circulation would change
Real circulation and surface temperatures would respond, but the answer depends on physics this model does not resolve.
What is computed, illustrated, and not modeled
Shown to explain the result
- Slow globe rotation
- Persistent star-facing temperature wash
- Day-to-night circulation loop
Outside this model
- Regional temperature values
- Wind speed and fluid dynamics
- Ocean heat transport and thermal inertia
Model scope: Rotation changes the derived period. The temperature wash and day-to-night circulation loop are explanatory heuristics, not climate or circulation calculations.