What would life be like on Earth if it had one face permanently pointed towards the Sun i.e. permanent daytime on one side, permanent nighttime on the other.

quote:

Originally posted by Roy P:
What would life be like on Earth if it had one face permanently pointed towards the Sun i.e. permanent daytime on one side, permanent nighttime on the other.

Hot and Cold !

quote:

Originally posted by Roy P:
What would life be like on Earth if it had one face permanently pointed towards the Sun i.e. permanent daytime on one side, permanent nighttime on the other.

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Thank you for that question, without it I wouldn't have stumbled across this.

"Each planet (3 gas giants outside our solar syastem) orbits very close to its "Sun"; one side of each world always faces the star, while the other side remains in permanent darkness.

Despite this, temperatures across these planets are uniform - and blazing hot.

The team believes these winds are mixing the atmospheres, balancing temperatures across the planets."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6253119.stm

Otherwise the nearest planet in our solar system to do this is Mercury (though it does - eventually - show both faces to the sun. Each day and night last around 59 earth days). Mercury has a peculiar orbit resulting in a day lasting twice as long as a year!
Temperatures range from approx. -150 degrees C, when facing away from the sun, to approx. 450 degrees C when facing it.

As it has no atmosphere to speak of all heat is quickly radiated back into space (& not conducted into the ground) and its thought there may be underground ice near the poles.

Though the closest planet to the sun Mercury doesn't have the highest temperature. Venus has a higher surface temperature due to the greenhouse effect of its atmosphere which is around 97% CO2.

So two answers depending if the planet has an atmosphere or not.

Mmmm -- interesting, Shefftim. I did suspect that in the Earth scenario the situation would not be too bad. After all, the two extremes of hot and cold would almost definitely increase ocean and air circulation?!

In my scenario all else would remain the same in the Solar System. Only the Earth would stop spinning. Let's be more specific and determine which face is facing the Sun; I suggest the African continent. That would put all of North and South America in darkness. Of course the Moon would occasionally add some light but I doubt it would please most of the vegetation. It would also take time for it to evolve to grow without direct sunlight? Or would it?

quote:

Originally posted by Roy P:
Mmmm -- interesting, Shefftim. I did suspect that in the Earth scenario the situation would not be too bad. After all, the two extremes of hot and cold would almost definitely increase ocean and air circulation?!

In my scenario all else would remain the same in the Solar System. Only the Earth would stop spinning. Let's be more specific and determine which face is facing the Sun; I suggest the African continent. That would put all of North and South America in darkness. Of course the Moon would occasionally add some light but I doubt it would please most of the vegetation. It would also take time for it to evolve to grow without direct sunlight? Or would it?

This idea has always fascinated me, as has the idea of the earth's axis of rotation being at a different angle to the orbital plane. What would happen if the angle was 0° or 45° instead of the current 23.5°? In fact, variations in this comprise one of the Milankovich cycles.

This angle would still be important in your example, which would require 1 day = 1 year, IOW 1 rotation per orbit, not a non-spinning earth. Would you suggest a "vertical" axis?

I imagine there must be models for this.