Geology question and the movie Core

[VBboy]

Is this BS, or is it true that the core of our planet is spinning? I never heard of this in my Physics class. And there is the movie "The Core":

"... force caused the Earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the Earth's core... Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.

Can someone clear this up? Check out this movie clip for details. Can someone tell me if the producer is playing me for a fool, or is there some truth behind this?

Thanks!

 

[alankool]

Is this a joke? If its not you should of paid attention in science class. Of course the core is spinning want proof? Click here

 

[Broadkipa]

our atmosphere is held in place by gravity surely, nothing to do with magnetic fields

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: alankool
Is this a joke? If its not you should of paid attention in science class. Of course the core is spinning want proof? Click here

Hehe, at least I was paying attention in my English class Or I would have heard of this core thing. Seriously though, thanks for the link and info.

 

[VBboy]

Ok, but can the core stop spinning, and if so, what would happen?

 

[Broadkipa]

If you think that the core is made of billions of tons of liquid metal, the inertia of that amount of material is massive. what sort of force could stop it moving.

 

[VBboy]

Originally posted by: Broadkipa
If you think that the core is made of billions of tons of liquid metal, the inertia of that amount of material is massive. what sort of force could stop it moving.

Check out the movie trailer and find out

 

[alankool]

If there was some way the core stopped spinning it would have drastic effects on the earth. the core produces friction which makes heat which is why the middle of the earth is so hot. If the core stopped spinning the earth would cool down and the inside would cool down and harden. The magnetic field would go away. There would be no more volcanoes etc. I agree with broadkipa I dont think there is any way that the core could stop spinning except if the world exploded or something. Try a search on google for any more info.

 

[Smilin]

Wasn't there a movie a long time ago about some guy trying to tap magma for the purpose of an unlimited energy source and he started a "crack" in the earth. They stopped it from spreading around the world by using a nuclear device. Of course in another movie they used a nuclear device to stop an asteroid from hitting the earth. In yet another they use one to stop aliens and now they are using one to restart the core spinning.

Is there anything nukes can't do???

On a serious note: I don't think the earths core is "spinning" as much as it is slowly moving due to convection...it'd not all rotating the same direction.

 

[Kaiynne]

There has been discussion for quite a while with regard to some very strange geological findings, all which would most adequately be explained by a sudden and drastic changing of the earths magnetic field. This is said to have occured throughout the history of the earth and is most probably due to a slowing of the cores rotation up to a point. After that point the magnetic field flips and the core will start to rotate in the opposite direction. We are talking geological timescales here, so this isn't something that a group of people could alter with a nuke. But hey artistic license is artistic license. So to answer the question of a previous post, the force that is powerful enough to stop the core is in a sense the core itself.

 

[dangereuxjeux]

The core spins (mostly) with the rest of the earth, and is massive, so getting it to stop would be virtually impossible for anything manmade to do. If you want to talk about a reversal of the earth's polarity, check here: http://earth.agu.org/sci_soc/hoffman.html. The magnetic field is generating by the outer core, however, not the inner core, but somehow that (like much of scientific reality) doesn't seem to sound right for a movie... "a team of the world's most gifted scientists travel to the furthest depths of the earth, almost, to save the planet"

 

[MajorC]

Anything that is powerful enough to stop the core would certainly annihilate all life.

Hence this question is moot!