When all those giant space ships crashed in Independence Day did it slow down the Earth's rotation?

[MrScorpio]

That's a lot of added mass, don't you think?

[armyowalgreens]

1. The Earth weighs 6 sextillion tons....

I doubt it effected it that much.

[Strong Atheist]

2. Everything has SOME effect, but it would depend on their total vectors... nt.

[armyowalgreens]

5. Of course it has an effect. Everything has an effect.

But the question is whether or not it would have a measurable effect.

[quakerboy]

15. Of course it has a measureable effect. Everything has a measurable effect

But the question is whether or not we have the tools to measure that effect.

[MrScorpio]

4. Despite that, I think it would be a great to get into alien salvage

INDEPENDENCE DAY: Scrap Metal!!!

[BlueJazz]

3. The Ships were also moving with the earth.

[begin_within]

6. If you jump up and land to the east of where you started,

the earth rotates a little faster because of it. But "little" is the operative word. The difference is so incomprehensibly tiny that there's no way you could measure it. As for "Independence Day," picture yourself spinning a basketball on your finger. Then a flea lands on it. Does that really slow down the basketball? Yes, but by such a tiny amount that it's imperceptible to us.
I wondered for a while what happens to the sun as it constantly "burns off" its mass in a continuous fusion reaction. The gravitational pull of the mass of the sun is what keeps the Earth in its orbit. But as it uses up its mass in the fusion reaction, the gravitational pull gets weaker. I wondered if it would eventually get to the point where it would no longer keep the earth in its orbit, and the earth would just go flying off into space, thus freezing and dooming it.
I posted this on a couple of science forums, and the answer that came back was yes, eventually the sun would lose enough mass that its gravitational field will "let go" of the earth. However, another factor comes into play - the typical life cycle of a star. The sun will turn into a "red giant" and completely incinerate the earth before it ever got to the point where it couldn't hold on to the earth via gravity.

[pokerfan]

7. according to the latest models

<...> most detailed model to date of the Sun's transition to a red giant, based on observations of six nearby red giant stars. Sure enough, they found that Earth's orbit will widen at first. But Earth will also induce a "tidal bulge" on the Sun's surface, with its own gravitational pull. The bulge will lag just behind the Earth in its orbit, slowing it down enough to drag it to a fiery demise.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13369?feedId=online-news_rss20

[flvegan]

8. It was but like a DJ scratching a record.

Momentary slowdown, then right back up to speed.

[Bucky]

9. No more effect than them coming down low in the atmosphere had already.

The impact they'd have on the biosphere's total mass would occur when they entered the atmosphere, not upon impact with the solid portions of it.

[MrScorpio]

10. Gravity is a tricky sumbitch nt

[Orrex]

11. They were all made out of crepe paper, so no.

But what about the mother ship? What happens when 1/4 of the Moon's mass rains down on us?

[MilesColtrane]

12. I'm still trying to figure out why squids installed bucket seats in their spacecraft.

[LostInAnomie]

13. The Earth gains around 40000 tons every year from interstellar debris crashing into us.

Hasn't effected us for the totality of civilization, so a few ships aren't going to do much.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. No, because of conservation of momentum.

The ships were originally launched from earth. That's why they're mac compatible.

Steve Jobs doesn't want you to know.