Say word Chile's earthquake may have shortened the length of the Earth's days?

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Chile earthquake may have shortened length of Earth's days

The powerful 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile, killing more than 700 people and triggering a tsunami alert, may also have shifted the planet's axis and shortened the length of each Earth day.


Richard Gross, a Nasa scientist, has worked out that the Earth's rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake.

Usinga complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminarycalculation that the earthquake should have shortened the length of anEarth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth ofa second).

Mr Gross also calculated that the earthquake should have moved Earth's figure axis by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 3 inches).

Bycomparison, Mr Gross said the same model estimated the 2004 magnitude9.1 Sumatran earthquake should have shortened the length of day by 6.8microseconds and shifted Earth's axis by 2.32 milliarcseconds (about2.76 inches).

He said that even though the Chilean earthquake wasmuch smaller than the Sumatran quake, it was predicted to have changedthe position of the figure axis by a bit more for two reasons.

First,unlike the 2004 Sumatran earthquake, which was located near theequator, the 2010 Chilean earthquake was located in Earth'smid-latitudes, which makes it more effective in shifting Earth's figureaxis.

Second, the fault responsible for the 2010 Chilieanearthquake dips into Earth at a slightly steeper angle than does thefault responsible for the 2004 Sumatran earthquake. This makes theChile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hencemore effective in shifting Earth's figure axis.

"It's what wecall the ice-skater effect," David Kerridge, head of Earth hazards andsystems at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh told Bloomberg.

"Asthe ice skater puts when she's going around in a circle, and she pullsher arms in, she gets faster and faster. It's the same idea with theEarth going around if you change the distribution of mass, the rotationrate changes."


Eghck..
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Don't leave us in suspense.
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The change—which can only be measured thanks to computer models—willresult in days that are 1.26 microseconds shorter than before. That's0.00000126 seconds shorter. There may have been more visible changes,like islands changing its position. One of them, Santa María, may haveraised two meters after the shattering land move.
 
SMH I want my 1.26 microseconds back. Over a lifetime that could at least add up to a fap session.
 
Please do not be alarmed.

Was the Year Always 365 Days Long? http://www.bigsiteofamazi...ear-always-365-days-long

A year is the time it takes the earth to go around the sun, and a day is the time it takes the earth to rotate once on its axis. The earth now rotates 365 1/4 times during each trip around the sun.

But by studying the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, scientists have discovered that the year wasn’t always 365 1/4 days long.

At one time, the earth rotated faster than it does today, and therefore spun around more than 3651/4 times in a year. About 85 million years ago, there were probably 370 days in a year. And 600 million years ago, the year was perhaps 425 days long!
 
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