Do you ever feel like there isn't enough time in the day?

[Jase]

Well tough luck.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100302/sc_space/chileearthquakemayhaveshorteneddaysonearth

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.

The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Ricard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis," NASA officials said in a Monday update.

The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).

The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).

...

[Hawk]

1.26 milliseconds seems pretty small compared to how much time I have wasted reading Jase's posts

[Kurb]

I dont understand.

[Scrumtrilescent]

Saw that earlier. That's pretty freakin' sweet.

[Panthro]

Axis of evil

[Darth Biscuit]

I was reading about this at home last night... it's fascinating to me...

The 2004 Sumatran Earthquake...

JPL has modeled the coseismic effect on the Earth's rotation of the December 26 earthquake in Indonesia by using the PREM model for the elastic properties of the Earth and the Harvard centroid-moment tensor solution for the source properties of the earthquake. The result is:

change in length of day: -2.676 microseconds

polar motion excitation X : -0.670 milliarcseconds

polar motion excitation Y: 0.475 milliarcseconds

Since the length of the day can be measured with an accuracy of about 20 microseconds, this model predicts that the change in the length-of-day caused by the earthquake is much too small to be observed. And, since the location of the earthquake was near the equator, this model predicts that the change in polar motion excitation is also rather small, being about 0.82 milliarcsecond in amplitude. Such a small change in polar motion excitation will also be difficult to detect.

These near 9.0 magnitude earthquakes release a tremendous amount of energy...

The 8.8 Chilean Quake created waves in Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana...

The 1964 Alaskan 9.1 quake sloshed water out of swimming pools in Florida and Puerto Rico.

The 2004 Sumatran quake produced measurable ground motion in Oklahoma, in the US.

It's really incredible.

[Kyle82]

It truly is amazing how such a force can affect an entire planet.

[I AM]

My bad y'all... I slipped and fell while I was in the shower...

I didn't mean to cause such a mess...

Look at it this way, at least you can now hit old age without technically being as old...

[Sapper]

Only a matter of time until the San Andreas fault cracks out the next California monster quake.

[Darth Biscuit]

Only a matter of time until the San Andreas fault cracks out the next California monster quake.

If a quake of this kind of magnitude hits Cali... it will be terrible. Unheard of damage and loss of life...

[pstall]

I don't know how accurate this can be. I mean it sounds neat and all.

Head Scientist at this site: Hey has anybody seen my car keys?

Other white coats: Did you lose them again?

Head guy: Yeah I know. Did you guys get a chance to see my discovery about shortened days due to that Chilay(the new way of saying Chile) earthquake? How freakin cool is that?

Heady guy: Hey has anybody seen my car keys?

[Panthro]

Was Canseco in Chile?

[Sapper]

If a quake of this kind of magnitude hits Cali... it will be terrible. Unheard of damage and loss of life...

http://www.broowaha.com/articles/4851/the-big-one-californias-future-earthquake-probabilities

I remember studying about this back in 8th grade and being terrified of even visiting California.

[Darth Biscuit]

http://www.broowaha.com/articles/4851/the-big-one-californias-future-earthquake-probabilities

I remember studying about this back in 8th grade and being terrified of even visiting California.

That's got some interesting info... but they're talking about probabilities of a 6.7 or 7.5... and as bad as they could be, they would pale in comparison to an 8.8 in that region.