Well shucks, I just figured the days would get longer because we're getting to the summer equinox so every day is becoming longer anyway. Could torque created by transit counteract the natural elongation of days?
Faul_Sname - 12 years ago
Well, currently the westbound traffic is on the north side, and the eastbound is on the south side. This provides a counterclockwise torque during acceleration and a counterclockwise torque during deceleration. The sum of the two is zero on average, but there has been a certain amount of rotational inertia imparted by the cars currently in motion. This inertia is in the clockwise direction. Since the surface moves eastward more quickly as you go south, the traffic is currently making the earth rotate slightly faster. If the sides of the road were reversed, the earth would rotate slightly slower (Since the earth has 10^38 kg m^2/s of rotational inertia, and the cars would impart around 5x10^10 kg m^2/s of inertia either way, the change in day length would manifest in the 27th decimal place. This means the switch would make a year about 0.1 attoseconds longer).
Bonus points for anyone who figures out the effect on the orbital speed of Earth.
Well shucks, I just figured the days would get longer because we're getting to the summer equinox so every day is becoming longer anyway. Could torque created by transit counteract the natural elongation of days?
Well, currently the westbound traffic is on the north side, and the eastbound is on the south side. This provides a counterclockwise torque during acceleration and a counterclockwise torque during deceleration. The sum of the two is zero on average, but there has been a certain amount of rotational inertia imparted by the cars currently in motion. This inertia is in the clockwise direction. Since the surface moves eastward more quickly as you go south, the traffic is currently making the earth rotate slightly faster. If the sides of the road were reversed, the earth would rotate slightly slower (Since the earth has 10^38 kg m^2/s of rotational inertia, and the cars would impart around 5x10^10 kg m^2/s of inertia either way, the change in day length would manifest in the 27th decimal place. This means the switch would make a year about 0.1 attoseconds longer).
Bonus points for anyone who figures out the effect on the orbital speed of Earth.
Obviously the change in Europe-wide Coriolis force produces a net torque on the Earth.