Perhaps the most obvious effect of the sudden disappearance of gravity is that nothing would stay in place. You might even be picturing it as everything gently drifting off into the sky, as if fairies had sprinkled pixie dust all over the planet, or something. However, the reality of what would happen is far from the scenario you’re probably imagining: It’s a lot more chaotic, somewhat comical, and unexpectedly violent.
As HowStuffWorks explains, gravity is the reason why your car, the stuff inside your office, and even your parents and siblings manage to stay on the ground. Keep in mind, however, that Earth is in constant motion. According to Karen Masters’ “Ask an Astronomer” column on the Cornell Astronomy website, a person standing at the Earth’s equator would actually be moving at a speed of more than 1,000 miles per hour. Ever notice how when a car suddenly accelerates, everything inside it that’s not properly secured gets jarred out of place, in all sorts of crazy directions? In a sense, making gravity disappear would be like suddenly removing all the seatbelts that keep things on the planet from rolling around.
Long story short, everything that’s not firmly rooted on the ground — whether it’s a person, a desk, or a car — would turn into “fast-moving tumbleweeds,” as Science ABC describes. Not even houses and buildings would be safe; they, too, would end up becoming gigantic tumbleweeds of destruction.