Why does our earth rotate in an anticlockwise direction? What would happen if it were to totate clockwise?
365073
We will be telling that earth rotates clokwise and all heavenly objects are moving anticlokwise.\n\nOr we would make all clocks move in opposite direction and will be telling that earth rotates anticlockwise and others rotate in clockwise.
1157171
As Debster92 pointed out, there is no way to stop the Earth from spinning once it starts.\n\nAlso, and perhaps more importantly, there is absolutely no way to get it started again if it did stop.\n\nThe angular momentum imparted on the solar system as it coalesced out the primordial gas cloud is what causes all the planets to spin and rotate as they do today.  If one were to somehow stop a body from rotating, it would take tremendous energy to get it started again.
1094922
The Earth is continually rotating on its axis.\n\nIn short, the Earth rotates because it has to in order to help conserve angular momentum in the universe.\n\nThere is a physical Law which states that angular momentum must always be conserved.\n\nThe big ball of gas and debris which out solar system was formed from had some value for its angular momentum (even if that value was zero).  When the sun and the planets formed from that material, in order to conserve the angular momentum, the planets and sun started rotating.  If you add up all the angular momentum there is now between all the planets/the sun, moons/.... it should come out to be the same value as the angular momentum of the material which formed out solar system.
379517
This is because we see them as rotating so.Actually the earth rotates west to east on it's axis.That's why we see'em rotating east to west.
234240
Because if it went counterclockwise time would be going in reverse? :)
110477
If the question is about precession, then wikipedia has an answer:\n\n(The earth's axis undergoes a change in the direction of its axis, very slowly though...it spins like a wobbling top, and if you extend the axis up to the heavens and plotted it over 26000 years, it would trace a small circle in the sky. This is known as precession.)\n\n"The explanation of this is: The axis of the Earth undergoes precession due to a combination of the Earth's nonspherical shape (it is an oblate spheroid, bulging outward at the equator) and the gravitational tidal forces of the Moon and Sun applying torque as they attempt to pull the equatorial bulge into the plane of the ecliptic. The portion of the precession due to the combined action of the Sun and the Moon is called lunisolar precession."\n\nLook up the article in wikipedia with the provided link and you'll have a more detailed explanation along with a detailed diagram (2nd link) showing the circle it traces in teh sky... You can see by the diagram that Polaris will/was not always the north star. At different periods of the earth's history, other stars assumed that role or there was no north star.
145598
The Earth was formed spinning (like a top) and it just hasn't stopped spinning since then.  There is very little friction that would slow it down (space is pretty empty).\n\nThere are different theories as to why it was created spinning.  But most likely it formed from gas and dust that was swirling, and that angular momentum is still with us today.
67314
The planet's rotation would have to reverse for this to occur. So, no.
500616
Well you seem  to have an inquisitive mind.\n\nsince the angular momentum of the earth is conserved, if all d cars drove towards east, this will prompt the earth to slow down its rotation speed eastwards, because there will be an extra component of the angular-momentum due to the cars.\nSo the rate of revolution of earth will decrease, which will lead to an increased daytime and night time.\n  But yeahh it will also lead to an immense traffic jam.\nDont even think about it.
992390
It keeps spinning because of its angular momentum. The same reason why a top keeps spinning, until friction slows it down. But since the Earth is floating in space, there is no friction and it keeps spinning indefinitely.\n\nIt has not been spinning "since the Big Bang" because the Earth has not existed for that long. The Big Bang was about 14 billion years ago. The Earth is 4.6 billion years old.\n\nAlso, the speed of rotation is not constant. The tidal effect of the moon and sun are very gradually slowing the Earth down, making the length of the day very very slightly longer all the time. But it will take billions of years for a significant change in day length.\n\nIf the Earth suddenly stopped spinning, everything on the surface, especially at the lower latitudes, would be destroyed. The Equator is traveling at about 1,000 miles per hour (1600 km/h) and if the Earth suddenly stopped spinning the chaos would be incredible. But you don't have to worry about that because there is nothing that could possibly do that.
328856
Time is unconnected to the Earth.  The only immediately noticeable differences between normal Earth and a backward rotating Earth (NOT counting the moment during which the Earth stops spinning) is that water will circulate in the opposite direction in the ocean, counterclockwise instead of clockwise, and storms will rotate across the Earth in a different directional tendency.
540447
Let's just talk about Earth. The earth's diameter is 12756 km. Its circumference is pi x 12756 = 40074 km. The earth spins 1 round in 24 hours. That's 1700 km/h, or 472 m/s. If it rotates in an OPPOSITE direction, it's like the Earth is rotating at 944 km/s and suddenly stops. What happens? You fly through the air at 944 km/s. All the houses fly through the air at 944 km/s. Whole forests fly at 944 km/s. Even whole mountain ranges and mountain tips fly at 944 km/s. The ocean's waters fly backward at 944 km/s. Talk about a uber tsunami. I don't know what the friction of air against these object would do to them. Can anyone solve that? Even the Earth's crust might become detached with its outer mantle, I think. Lava breaks out everywhere, global earthquakes... In short: All hell breaks loose. Man, that's even worse than the Death Star. Superman actually does that to Earth in one of his movies. He's a major nut!
1168215
Neither, the axis it rotates on is a north-south axis. However, the earth is spinning west to east!\n\nPS I wish people wouldn't say it rotates left or right - its meaningless and incorrect. If you look at the Earth with the North Pole at the top it appears to rotate to the right, but if you look at the Earth with the South Pole at the top it appears to rotate to the left. Use east and west! It rotates to the east!
237936
You say "when" like you think it is going to happen any minute.\n\nThe acceleration due to gravity does not depend on the rotation of the Earth, it only depends on the mass of the Earth and the distance from it.  No matter how fast you are traveling or the Earth is spinning, there will alwasy be a constant gravitational attraction between the Earth and some mass at a constant distance.\n\nHowever, the fact that the Earth is spinning has the effect of lowering the percieved influence of gravity in a way.\nGravity can be through of in this case as the centripetal force which is causing you travel in circular motion.\nWithout going into too much detail (and I fear that I am not explaining it clearly), the force of gravity can only cause so much of a centripetal acceleration, beyond that and you cannot continue in the same circular path.\n\nThere is a point where the force of gravity would not be enough to "hold you down" if the Earth was spinning fast enough.  You set your weight (weight = force of gravity) eqaul to the centripetal force (the force causing you to moving in circular motion), then you can solve for the tangential speed of the Earth's rotation which you would be "weightless".\nHowever, the force of gravity in and of itself is in no way effected by the Earth's rotation.\n\nI hope I explained it clearly enough, this topic lends itself to people using in correct terms like "centrifugal force" which is really not correct.
341487
The sun rotates approximately once for every 27 Earth rotations.  Unlike the Earth, because the sun is gas, it does not rotate at the same rate at all locations.  If the Sun were to stop rotating, it would probably collapse inward possibly resulting in an enormous explosion as the particles within the core became superheated.
1113520
Earth is rotating at a speed of about 1100 miles per hour. If our planet suddenly stopped rotating, the atmosphere would still be in motion at that speed. The atmosphere would be moving so fast it would literally sweep the land masses clear of anything not anchored to bedrock, this would mean rocks, soil, trees, buildings, people and animals. All would be swept up into the atmosphere.
481396
clockwise it doesnt go counter like so many people think if you know the laws of the coriolis effect you would know that the water below the equator flows counter clockwise however the water in the toilet is not large enough to be considered for the coriolis effect...sooo clockwise