I was reading an article the other day discussing the effect recent major earthquakes have had on our planet. Eastern Japan is now 3.96m (13ft) closer to North America, which shortened the day a whopping 1.6 microseconds. In addition, the whole country sank down 0.61m (2ft), which together not only pulled the Earth's mass towards the Equator but also closer to the centre of the planet.
It's the whole centrifugal force thing that's causing the faster spin - the mass has moved more central and closer in, which increases the rotation speed.
Last year's earthquake in Chile had a smaller but similar effect on Earth's rotation. The 2004 quake in Sumatra measured 9.1 and lasted 10 minutes (I can't imagine what that'd be like. Try holding your breath for just one minute and see how happy it makes you feel). As a result, our day became shorter by 6.8 microseconds.
So, the Earth is spinning faster, which means we have shorter days and therefore less time to get everything done. Don't know about you but I miss those ~10 microseconds. The good news is that it also means gravity is having more of an effect. I'm now a little happier about getting on the bathroom scales.
1 comment:
That's the best way to look at it, the whole gravity and scales thing!! :)
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