Gravity is not that strong. If the Earth merely stopped rotating suddenly, everything would be thrown, quite violently, eastward. And not by a few feet. But that's just stopping the rotation suddenly. If the Earth stopped all motion, meaning the revolution around the sun and the movement along with the solar system in the galaxy, that would be truly catastrophic. The eastward fling would also become and outward fling. Not just us, but much of the surface, and the oceans, would be thrown off. That was the thing that made me comment. What if the Earth stopped?
Satira Capriccio said:
If we were to stop the planet ... would there not no longer be gravity? If there were no gravity ... would we not all "float" off into space?
So, gravity would not end, no, but the force of momentum would be much stronger than the force of gravity. Thankfully, I can't imagine anything that could cause that, so we're safe.
What if the Earth stopped spinning
Dana