Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

[Sporkman]

Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth

SPACE.com Staff

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 Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif....

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

[Tristam Green]

I just read this. I'm now in fear that the Chile Earthquake might have shortened my life :|

[swoll1980]

I just read this. I'm now in fear that the Chile Earthquake might have shortened my life :|

If anything, shorter days would create an illusion of longevity.

[whiskeylover]

I just read this. I'm now in fear that the Chile Earthquake might have shortened my life :|

On the contrary, you'd end up living more days because the days are now smaller.

[The Toxic Mite]

Bull. 1.26 milliseconds? :|

[J_Stanton]

i believe that works to be that we lose 1 second every 3 years compared to before.

[swoll1980]

Since time, space, and speed are all relational, wouldn't all work out the same in the end anyways?

[FuturePilot]

should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds


shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds


length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds


by 1.26 milliseconds


1.26 milliseconds


uhhhh

[Kdar]

This thread shorted my day be more than 1.26 milliseconds haha..
But still, its pretty interesting.

@FuturePilot: DON'T PANIC.... haha

[KiwiNZ]

Bull. 1.26 milliseconds? :|

Are you saying Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is wrong?
If so please present your findings to back your position.

[swoll1980]

i believe that works to be that we lose 1 second every 3 years compared to before.

No. In the course of a normal lifetime you will see 30 seconds of a day that would not have been there otherwise. Your not loosing anything.

[RabbitWho]

and I lost 1 and a half seconds of each 300 (?) days.. but not really because I've always said it was 24 hours and not been sure of how it was 24.13401i1494 hours or what not. But it is odd to think we'll be sleeping and waking in slightly shorter patterns.. anyway... it's not the most important thing that happened that day. What is it now... 700 last count? Probably thousands of people lost their lives..Focus!

I've the same horrible helpless feeling I have with Haiti, there is no one collecting money here, I haven't seen any charity number I can call or text. Nothing I can do except feel miserable or try to forget about whats happening.

[The Toxic Mite]

Are you saying Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is wrong?
If so please present your findings to back your position.

I ain't saying he's wrong; I just don't think that 1.26 ms is significant enough :/

[Tristam Green]

If anything, shorter days would create an illusion of longevity.


On the contrary, you'd end up living more days because the days are now smaller.

don't mess with my perception :( I wanted to have some Doomsday gloom.

[KiwiNZ]

don't mess with my perception :( I wanted to have some Doomsday gloom.

I am sure it will end up on the History Channel to add to their proof about 2012 :rolleyes:

[ViperChief]

Are you saying Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is wrong?
If so please present your findings to back your position.

Allow me to inform you that you are the winner of one internet.

[Kdar]

I am sure it will end up on the History Channel to add to their proof about 2012 :rolleyes:

step-by-step haha

[pricetech]

<irrational panic mode>
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaa !!!!!!!!!!
</irrational panic mode>

I think I'll stay up tonight staring at the clock and see if it's true.

[Tristam Green]

I am sure it will end up on the History Channel to add to their proof about 2012 :rolleyes:

The way I figure it, "everything else shortens our lives, why not add one more monster to the pile?"

[current events, feel free to delete if needed]Also, maybe now "Chile Earthquake" can replace "9/11" in any statements concerning why the world is as messed up as it currently is.[/current events]

[wojox]

I have enough to do and now only about one-millionth of a second less time to do it?

jeeeez

[ViperChief]

Let's not forget that it also jacked up the axis of the Earth by about three inches. OH NOES!

Meh. Happens all the time. Normal occurrence with earthquakes.

[Tristam Green]

Let's not forget that it also jacked up the axis of the Earth by about three inches. OH NOES!

Superman can fix it. He just has to fly backward, really really fast.

[KiwiNZ]

I am going to so love the morning of January 1 2013 :p

[Tristam Green]

I am going to so love the morning of January 1 2013 :p

I'm gonna wear a shirt that says "What now?" on Dec. 22, 2012 :D

[swoll1980]

I have enough to do and now only about one-millionth of a second less time to do it?

jeeeez

1/1000 of a second.

[ViperChief]

I am going to so love the morning of January 1 2013 :p

Isn't that the year of the Linux desktop?

Either way, I'm covered. I don't believe in Mayans.

[Penguin Guy]

A whole 1.26 milliseconds? - I'm sure gonna miss that.

[pastalavista]

I have enough to do and now only about one-millionth of a second less time to do it?

jeeeez

If I'm not mistaken, a millisecond is one-thousandth of a second, so it's a thousand times worse than you think... :-|

[wojox]

I have enough to do and now only about one-millionth of a second less time to do it?

jeeeez

Yes your all right. I was thinking milli / million :oops:

[whiskeylover]

Yes your all right. I was thinking milli / million :oops:

Its because of your lack of knowledge of the metric system : )

[Faolan84]

If the world were to end on 21 December 2012. I'd sit in the front lawn, in a lawn chair with an umbrella over me and a pina colada in each hand. Or reading a good book. Or doing something I like.

I wouldn't be one of those idiots trying to run away from some exceedingly large disaster. :P

[KiwiNZ]

Isn't that the year of the Linux desktop?

Either way, I'm covered. I don't believe in Mayans.

No thats 2003 , uumm 2004 , no 2006 , eerrrr 2009 , drat 2015 , I have it 2021 ;-P

[Faolan84]

2013: Year of the Desktop oshi-

[pricetech]

I'm gonna wear a shirt that says "What now?" on Dec. 22, 2012 :D

I need one of those too. Make that two of those. I can give the second one to my Granddaughter who will celebrate her twelfth birthday that day.

[The Toxic Mite]

If the world were to end on 21 December 2012. I'd sit in the front lawn, in a lawn chair with an umbrella over me and a pina colada in each hand. Or reading a good book. Or doing something I like.

I wouldn't be one of those idiots trying to run away from some exceedingly large disaster. :P

I'd fly to the US and board the next launch to the ISS :P

[MasterNetra]

lol Dec 21 2012 is just the end of the current age which is the age of Pisces (which is not considered a good age for the earth). The next Age is Aquarius and apparently despite the doomsday profits its suppose to be a good age.

http://www.librarising.com/cosmology/2012.html

[ViperChief]

I'd fly to the US and board the next launch to the ISS :P

Won't do any good when the sun explodes.

I just choose not to believe in Mayans.

[swoll1980]

Won't do any good when the sun explodes.

I just choose not to believe in Mayans.

The sun has billions of years left in it's life cycle.

[Tristam Green]

The sun has billions of years left in it's life cycle.

But what about the next release? Hopefully it will be an LTS, I mean our sun isn't even that old, and it's still this unstable?

[whiskeylover]

20 billion years approximately. After which there shall be very few stars left. Read up on "entropy"

[MasterNetra]

The sun has billions of years left in it's life cycle.

+1


Won't do any good when the sun explodes.

I just choose not to believe in Mayans.

There are still Mayans alive today in South America. However don't expect them to know the answers to your questions regarding their ancestry. The Spanish either converted the Ancient Mayans to Christianity or kill them. In the process the Spanish Conquistadors destroyed many Mayan writings believing them to be paganism stuff. Morons didn't realise that much of it was more valuable then the gold they were after. And the Mayans that evaded both conversion and the murder sprees spread out away from one another adopting the local language of the area. It doubtful there are any Mayans today that can read the writings or know much if any thing at all about what their ancestors knew.

[ViperChief]

lol Dec 21 2012 is just the end of the current age which is the age of Pisces (which is not considered a good age for the earth). The next Age is Aquarius and apparently despite the doomsday profits its suppose to be a good age.

http://www.librarising.com/cosmology/2012.html

Like the song?


The sun has billions of years left in it's life cycle.

I was referring to the 2012 issue. I know the sun had to do with it somehow (Didn't it?). I don't know much about it. I don't pay attention to doomsday prophecies.

[MasterNetra]

Like the song?
...


I would imagine the song came from it.

[Megrimn]

so. The earth spins a little faster now.

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/austin/globejotting/upload/2009/04/_the_carnival_i/round-up-carnival-ride-at-night-lights.jpg

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[jwbrase]

20 billion years approximately. After which there shall be very few stars left. Read up on "entropy"

5 billion years, and there will be quite a few stars left. But still far beyond 2012.

[lisati]

I would imagine the song came from it.

The song is from a show, "Hair"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(musical)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_(film)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079261/

[standingwave]

It's a misquote. It's microseconds, not milliseconds:

JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth's rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-071

[wojox]

I take it all back. I was right. 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

[wojox]

It's a misquote. It's microseconds, not milliseconds:

JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth's rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-071

Thank you :lolflag:

[Easy Limits]

I am not making any plans after 2012.

[Woolio1]

Correction. Average added time over a lifetime is a measly .03 of a second. That's three-hundredths of a second, people.

Enjoy that time. Buy a bagel.

[OutOfReach]

It's interesting that an earthquake can change the Earth's entire rotation!
But is there any significant outcome of the shortening? i.e. in the long run?

[orlox]

I'm from Chile! Just recently got my internet back...

I wonder how they could have measured this...I would think the only measurement that can be done in this sense right now is to check the position of stars in the sky, and see if they're displaced, but if the difference is so small, I doubt instruments are sensitive enough.

[SomeGuyDude]

People! This means we'll live LONGER, and we have MORE time. If the days are shorter, you live longer in comparison to them. So be grateful!

Not only that, but I hope the Mayan gods recalibrate for this. 2012 has to show up a little sooner than before.

[Ric_NYC]

Interesting question on Youtube:


Are the GPS satallites picking up this change. 3" axis shift is huge,p8950

[ratcheer]

Correction. Average added time over a lifetime is a measly .03 of a second. That's three-hundredths of a second, people.

Enjoy that time. Buy a bagel.

I don't understand how you came up with that. 0.00126 second per day = 0.4602 second per year, or a little less than 1 second every two years.

Tim

PS - I apologize. I thought I originally heard that the change was 1.26 millisecond per day, but the correct figure is 1.26 microsecond per day. Therefore, it would take over 2000 years to amount to one full second.

[Chronon]

Isn't that the year of the Linux desktop?

Either way, I'm covered. I don't believe in Mayans.

That's okay. They probably don't believe in you either. :p

[amitabhishek]

IMO this shortening of days by an earth quake is not a new phenomenon. If I am not wrong Asian Tsunami too shortened the day by few microseconds. So don't forget to add that.

[PeteUplink]

If the world were to end on 21 December 2012. I'd sit in the front lawn, in a lawn chair with an umbrella over me and a pina colada in each hand. Or reading a good book. Or doing something I like.



That sounds like a plan to me. I think I'll either read a book or watch a movie. The original version of The Day The Earth Stood Still sounds good. :D

[Sporkman]

Enjoy that time. Buy a bagel.

:lol:

[Sporkman]

I don't understand how you came up with that. 0.00126 second per day = 0.4602 second per year, or a little less than 1 second every two years.

Tim

PS - I apologize. I thought I originally heard that the change was 1.26 millisecond per day, but the correct figure is 1.26 microsecond per day. Therefore, it would take over 2000 years to amount to one full second.

No, it's milliseconds. 1.26 milliseconds (according to the article, at least).

[jwbrase]

Also keep in mind that the moon is slowing down Earth's rotation by about 23 microseconds per year, though at present, due to other factors, the figure is only 17 microseconds / year.

[jwbrase]

No, it's milliseconds. 1.26 milliseconds (according to the article, at least).

The article is wrong. Every other source, including the one the article cites, says microseconds.

[Sporkman]

The article is wrong. Every other source, including the one the article cites, says microseconds.

Ah. Ok then. :oops: