Is it possible to have a body whose spin is faster than its escape velocity?

A star's theoretical limit for rotation is 450km/sec. Anything higher than that and the star will fly apart. The sun's escape velocity is over 600km/sec for a star of such mass. The star with the maddest spin I have seen is 410km/sec for an O-type main sequence star in Cygnus and 400km/sec for Eta Carinae. Anyway, magnetars, neutron stars and black holes should be spinning near a good fraction of the speed of light but the physics is much more different so I am not sure.

Clear skies!

Yes. If the rotational speed of the body is sufficient to give objects on the surface escape velocity or better, anything not fastened to the body will fly off into space, and that would include an atmosphere.

If the Earth made one complete rotation on its axis in just under an hour, for example, things on the surface would fly off into space. There would be a lot of other consequences, though, since such a high rotational velocity would put tremendous mechanical strain on the planet. The actual rotational speed of Earth at its equator is 76 times slower than escape velocity.

omg? why?

If the spin is faster than escape velocity, then any loose objects at the equator, including gases and liquids, will end up being ejected. But things at the poles will be okay.

So it would depend on how fast things at the poles flow to the equator. Also, gases could seep up from underground, even at the equator. So there could be an atmosphere.

You are correct. It could not have an atmosphere, as the gases would be ejected at the equator. Anything at the rotational axis would be safe, but anything else would fall to the equator and be ejected.