vcapital2000

Calculate how long would a day be if the Earth were rotating so fast that objects at the equator were apparently weightless? This is a question of posed and asked for a solution. Perhaps it is semantics or the way I am viewing weightless incorrectly, I have a problem with this question itself. Weight is commonly defined as the force on the object due to gravity. Now the solution to the problem is the earth would need to rotate approximately 17x faster to achieve weightlessness. Where the spin of the earth would be so fast it would cancel out the pull of gravitational forces. My question is this. Isn't this just buoyancy and not weightlessness? If I were to dive into the ocean and reached a certain point in buoyancy I would be simulating weightlessness but never achieving it. My weight has never changed and the ocean is slightly heavier for me being in it. The other problem I have with this question is that everyone seems to believe that once the earth rotated at such an extreme speed that objects would simply fly off into space. If I were to fly from the North Pole to the Equator then jumped out I would still fall to earth regardless of rotation speed of Earth. My weight never changes what changes is once I impact to Earth. Now wouldn't objects simply skip across the Earth at this rotation since gravity would still constantly be pulling them back?