If you have ever watched Tom and Jerry, Road Runner, or any similar cartoon show, you will be familiar with the inclination of the characters when they start running, and when they come to a "dead stop" later in the chase. These opposite direction inclines, although extrememly exagerated, are dictated by the laws of inertia.
Imagine that you are in a stationary satellite high above the south pole. To you, the earth rotates in a clockwise direction.The map of Antarctica suggests that the then fluid continent was formed when the rotation of the earth slowed down, rather than when it accelerated! Perhaps scientifically this is to be expected, but if the earth's rotation ever slowed down, what is going to prevent it stopping altogether?
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