Not Enough Time in the Day, Anymore
Posted by James_Knutila on Tuesday, Mar 02, 2010
The devastating earthquake in Chile killed hundreds, displaced millions, and destroyed all sorts of infrastructure. If you needed more proof as to the seismic hugeness of the quake, NASA is reporting that the earth’s axis was shifted, and our days have been permanently shortened.
“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds [millionths of a second],” Richard Gross, a NASA geophysicist told Bloomberg. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds.” Ok slow down, guy. Milliarcsecond?
Apparently when hundreds of miles of rock are abruptly moved, the ‘Ice Skater Effect’ increases the earth’s velocity. David Kerridge, of the British Geological Survey, told Bloomberg, “As the ice skater is going around in a circle, and she pulls her arms in, she gets faster and faster. It’s the same idea with the Earth going around if you change the distribution of mass, the rotation rate changes.”
Its not the first time this has happened — the 9.1 Sumatran quake in 2004 shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds, and shifted the earth’s axis by 2.3 milliarcseconds.
From here on out, our days, and maybe our lives, are going to be shorter. What’s on your bucket list?
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James_Knutila
Isht goot!
New York, United States
Member since 2010
Nothing to do, nothing to be done
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janecolby 4 months ago
Had no idea that impact could shift the earth, or that we could measure in milliarcseconds!
Giga_Please 4 months ago
The days got shorter, but I bet it was a long day in Chile. RIMSHOT!
Max 4 months ago
Too soon!
Max 4 months ago
You know, that would be a cool Motherboard article. How has the internet and social media changed when too soon is too soon.
kaleidoscope_eyes 4 months ago
This is depressing...
Gadgetman 4 months ago
I totally agree.... Did these start after the 2000? News media reported it in such a quick fashion like it was no big deal??? Crazy on how the news will spend 20 minutes star gossip??????
jesuischaud 4 months ago
nice ice-skating analogy
sssss 4 months ago
shorter days suck but an overall shorter life isn't so bad because who the hell really wants to live past 60?
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