IF EARTH TURNED FASTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14587, 25 January 1911, Page 10

IF EARTH TURNED FASTER.

Conjecture has ofen "been made as to what would happen if the earth were to rotate faster upon: : its } axis than it does. Of course, if .it went 18 times as fast as it does ; now. bodies at v the- equator would weigh >nothing—a person; would , jump into the air and fail to come down again. A man might weigh 2001b at the Poles and nothing at the equator, while his weight would vary for.intermediate points. If he approached the equator he would get •lighter, and if: he receded from it ;he would get heavier. A man could carry a house on his shoulders very near the equator, ; while near either Pole he could only carry what one can now. On this account labour wouldV bo very dear near the Poles and very cheap near the equator. It would certainly be interesting to know which section of the earth would bo more —whether everyone would go north for good wages or go south for cheap workmen. The railroad problem would be momentous, unless the railroads all ran east and west, When a uniform rate would obtain on any particular east-and-west line. V V Journeys to the south would be even more popular than they are now, for they would make everyone feel better and in buoyant spirits; more springy, too, so that people would walk farther without getting tired, and could jump over: any obstacle that presented itself without coming down with too Hard a thump. ' There is no planet known that has such a rapid rotation as is pictured here, but there are several where man would weigh a great deal less than on the earth. On the moon a man would weigh only 501b or 601b, and could jump as many feet without suffering serious discomfort. But this state of affairs obtains over the whole planet, because it is due to absence of gravitative force and not to centrifugal, as would be the case on the rapidlyrotating earth.—Harper's Weekly.