SUMMARY
Maybe the huge earthquake that shocked and destroyed Chile this weekend, hit the earth’s axis and created shorter days say the NASA scientists.
This change they say is insignificant, but still unremovable. They say that every day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter. A micro second is one millionth of a second.
“A large quake shifts massive amounts of rock and alters the distribution of mass on the planet. When that distribution changes, it changes the rate at which the planet rotates. And the rotation rate determines the length of a day.” –CNN
Scientists use the example of a skater to show the change made by the earthquake. When the skater pulls in his arms, he spins faster. Well this exactly is what happened to earth because of the earthquake in Chile.
A scientist determined that quake may have moved the earth’s figure axis about 8 centimeters. That change in the axis might have shortened the days.
The earthquake of 9.1 magnitude that produced a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, shortened the days 6.8 microseconds.
But the length of the day could have also increased by 0.06, because if the Three Gorges reservoir in China filled up, it would have hold 10 trillion gallons of water.