Would Earth lose gravity during a pole shift?

Ok so I was just curious. I know scientists have found evidence of multiple pole shifts in the earth's crust and one is speculated to come very very soon, not going to mention the date (This is not another 2012 the world is ending thread)

So, does a pole shift suggest that the Earth will in essence reverse it's rotation or will the Earths magnetic fields simply just flip?

If it does mean that the Earth will literally start spinning in another direction, doesn't that imply that at some point in time Earth will lose all gravity!? Depending on how slow/fast the transition of direction is, the Earth could take quite some time to slow, then stop completely, then start up in a new direction. So that would mean that everything on Earth will begin to lose gravity and then completely be floating, right? Cars, oceans, houses, buildings, everything will be impacted in this.

Do we even know if Earth would start spinning on it's own again right off the bat? Couldn't it just drift completely off the original orbit before it starts spinning again? If you think of a gyroscope spinning, what happens when it begins to slow? It wobbles out of control until it falls over, violently even. I know that is mainly because of gravity, but still!

Am I thinking about this correctly?


[edit on 28-7-2010 by porschedrifter]

reply to post by porschedrifter


Pretty sure a pole shift is just a magnetic thing. The Earth will still have mass and plenty of it, and therefore still have gravity. I'm not a scientist though (I just play one on Television )

After all if there were times when Earth suddenly lost gravity wouldn't we have found dinosaurs and dead frozen animals in space when we began exploring up there? Or would they have fallen to Earth like meteors as soon as the gravity turned back on - an amusing idea indeed.

If I understand correctly:

When our Solar System passes through the Galactic Equator, yes it could play havoc with the laws of physics. Notice When in the Northern Hemisphere, and you flush the toilet, the water runs counter-clockwise. In the southern hemisphere it runs clockwise. This is due to the magnetic pole influence of the Earth. The question is, does our Galaxy as a whole have the same form of magnetic pole system. If the answer is yes, then yes, not only could all planets in our solar system start spinning in the opposite direction, but could also start rotating around the Sun in the opposite direction. I've always thought it would be fascinating to flush the toilet on a Concorde Jet a split second before crossing the equator. Would the water stop turning one direction and procced down turning in the other? As far as the Gravity question: No we would not lose our gravity, our gravity is based on the mass of the planet VS the mass of us. Not the actual spinning of the planet. Are their bound to be fluctuations in gravity because of this disturbance? Yes. Would we lose gravity completely? NO. Though depending on how fast this effect takes place, It could be far worse than just a loss of gravity.

Gravity is caused by mass, not the electro magnetic field. A pole shift could have no possible effect on gravity. All it'd mean is our compassess point the wroing way around - and during the pole shift an increase in aurora at low latitude. Some increase in cancer subsequent to the shift might also occur.

good question, but the thought/theory is that when this does happen gravity will remain the same, the poles will shift, the speed is at a constant, rotation of earth is 1000 mph there for one day =24 hours it will take this long for the poles to shift north to south, and the land mass will take longer probably a year, do to the rotation around the sun, i do not have proof of this, it is just a theory, there cold be no land mass change, but with the iron content i do not see how the land mass would not follow the pole shift. now if the inner core was to stop or spin faster then this would effect the gravitational pull lees spin less gravity, more spin more pull.

Poles vs. Axis

The poles are magnetic "points" derived as an average center of magnetic activity all around the Earth that don't really exist physically. In fact, they are shifting around all the time, but slightly and slowly.

The axis are the physical location about which the Earth rotates around.

When people talk about a "pole shift" they are NOT talking about the physical earth or the way it spins. They are talking the average magnetic location dissolving into no where at first, and then re-emerging the opposite way the began.

[edit on 28-7-2010 by harrytuttle]

Thanks for clearing that up.

Apparently I was a little confused.

reply to post by porschedrifter


Ok, you gave me my first laugh of the day. Though all posters are correct, gravity is based on mass not the spinning of the planet or the magnetic poles.

An expiriment in gravity: Have four friends with you. Take a blanket, and stretch it at tight as possible at all four corners. Have the fifth person put, increasingly heavier spheres on the blanket. The heaviest object will go directly towards the center of the blanket, thereby warping the blanket, and drawing all the objects with less mass towards it. Massive things like stars, and planets, actually warp space in the exact same way. If during your experiment, you had a small sphere, that weighed hundreds of pounds, it would then break through the blanket, creating a hole, and take all the other spheres with it. Hence a "black hole".

reply to post by porschedrifter


No, everything that has mass has a gravitational field. The more massive the object, the more gravity.

Also with regards to a pole shift.

Among the scientific community, there is no research that indicates a rapid change in the position of the rotational axis. There is evidence of precession and changes in axial tilt, but this change is on much longer time-scales and does not involve relative motion of the spin axis with respect to the planet. However, in what is known as true polar wander, the solid Earth can rotate with respect to a fixed spin axis. Research shows that during the last 200 million years a total true polar wander of some 30° has occurred, but that no super-rapid shifts in the Earth's pole were found during this period.[2] A characteristic rate of true polar wander is 1° per million years or less.[3] Between approximately 790 and 810 million years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia existed, two geologically-rapid phases of true polar wander may have occurred. In each of these, the Earth rotated ~55°.[4]

en.wikipedia.org...

Electromagnetism has absolutely NOTHING to do with instrinsic
mass which gives rise to the Weak Nuclear force (i.e. Gravity).

Electromagnetism is a force related to the overall charge
and electron movement of the atoms within a mass.

The Strong Nuclear Force allows the nucleus of an atom
(i.e. Protons and Neutrons) to STAY TOGETHER at Planck-level
scales which is why it takes an ENORMOUS amount of energy
to fission (break apart) or fuse (Fusion) those nucleii.
Electromagnetism is NOT one of the forces that would be
able to BREAK or affect the Strong or Weak Nuclear forces.

Out of that Planck-scale bond there are other Quantum level
particles such as the suggested (but not proven) Gluon which
likely gives rise to the concept of Gravity which acts upon
ANY close or far away mass.

So ANY pole shift on the Earth (or any OTHER planet for that
matter!) will cause only ELECTRICAL effects such as powerful
Auroras or magenetic field anomalies rather than ANY effect
as to whether or not we stay put upon the ground.

That said, since MANY animals such as pigeons or other migratory
birds which have small particles of Magnetite within their bodies
which are used for navigation WILL be affected and may become
confused and thus die from the mis-direction of a wayward
magnetic pole shift.

Humans do not generally rely upon such internal body navigation
and this will MOSTLY be unaffected. HOWEVER, some body functions
such as the BALANCE mechanism MAY become affected due to the
slightly polarized nature of the inner ear fluid used by our balance
system which MAY BE affected by magnetic shift thus the brain may
become confused for a while until it adapts to the new magnetic
field orientation.

There are other in-body mechanisms which are micro-voltage
based which DO REQUIRE some measure of a stable magnetic
field orientation, but since humans are POWERFUL neural nets,
our brains will adapt within days, or weeks at the most,
if such a magnetic pole shift DOES happen!

reply to post by dreamwalker74


It all makes sense now


reply to post by StargateSG7

I like answers like this, makes you feel smart while reading them.






[edit on 28-7-2010 by porschedrifter]

reply to post by jfj123


If you look into many historical documents, from around the world, There have been many accounts of the "Sun not rising" or the "Sun not setting", and then in-fact going in the opposite direction. No I do not take them all as fact, but it is a seriously interesting read, if you have time to do the research. Primarily search for "three days of darkness", "The Sun did not rise" or "the Sun did not set". After years of looking at this It has made me tired. I don't want to go back and reresearch, in order to post specific articles for debate. I find you learn quite a bit more when you do the research yourself and then take your own view. I've moved on.

The fact is nobody knows for sure. Yet we will be in a very unique position in 2012 when it does happen. Not because it hasn't happened before, but because through our modern day technology, we will be far more able to record, and likely survive the event.

reply to post by dreamwalker74

I'm going to find those articles right now, never heard of that! Sounds interesting!

Originally posted by dreamwalker74

Notice When in the Northern Hemisphere, and you flush the toilet, the water runs counter-clockwise. In the southern hemisphere it runs clockwise. This is due to the magnetic pole influence of the Earth.

It isn't, it's due to the Coriolis effect:

Coriolis effect

And in reality, even that is a fallacy. The Coriolis force is too weak to affect such small bodies of water; you can find both counterclockwise and clockwise flowing drains in both hemispheres. It depends on how the water is introduced and the structure of the drain.

I'd just like to reiterate a point that "mass" is the most 'plausible' explanation for gravity at this time. We are still such an infant species, and can hardly discover our planet before becoming arrogant. Oceans completely unexplored, parts of the world still unexplored, etc.

A pole-shift shouldn't change gravity, unless there was something else at play. Though gravity would be the least of our worries at that point. I'd probably prefer to float off into space than to remain here experiencing a pole-shift fallout, extinction level event.

Originally posted by dreamwalker74
Notice When in the Northern Hemisphere, and you flush the toilet, the water runs counter-clockwise. In the southern hemisphere it runs clockwise. This is due to the magnetic pole influence of the Earth.

I believed in this misinformation until I heard or read otherwise a few years ago. It's a myth so don't buy an airline ticket just for this observation

Why do teachers claim that a draining sink reflects the rotation of the Earth?
Draining in bathtubs and toilets
The Coriolis force influences which direction water spirals down drains and tiolets in different hemispheres

Originally posted by dreamwalker74
The fact is nobody knows for sure. Yet we will be in a very unique position in 2012 when it does happen. Not because it hasn't happened before, but because through our modern day technology, we will be far more able to record, and likely survive the event.

Do you have any evidence to suggest this or are you giving a completely baseless opinion?

I just wanted to give some input on the whole pole reversal thing.

the idea of a pole reversal is magnetic, the north pole being the N part of the magnet. and the south pole being the S part of the magnet. It is believed that occasionaly these two will switch spots.

But theres also another idea, and that is of a techtonic/plate shift. which would mean that the solid rocky part of the earth, the outter shell we reside on, can shift, causing tremendous devastation. this is b/c this rocky outter core rests upon a molten liquid core. so the two dont actualy "latch" onto each other. the upper mantle can shift on this ball. the latter would obviously be much more damaging.

But no, the earth would not loose gravity during such an event,,,, as far as we know!

reply to post by VonDoomen
Just adding a bit to the techtonic/plate shift theory. One theory of it involved unbalanced ice accumulations at the poles as a cause. I don't believe this theory is widely accepted and have no clue as to the current weights of ice at the poles.