Chile’s earthquake might have shortened Earth’s days permanently
March 3rd, 2010 - 3:08 am ICT by Aishwarya BhattWashington DC, Mar 2 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists at NASA think that the massive Chile earthquake might have shifted the Earth’s axis, which might be responsible for shortening the days. The change is very little, hardly perceivable but all the same, it is permanent. Scientists at NASA say that now the days are shorter by 1.26 microseconds, according to some preliminary calculations.
An earthquake can cause a shift in the duration of a day, as it shifts huge amounts of rock, which subsequently affects the distribution of mass on the planet. When the distribution changes, then it in turn affects the rate at which the planet is rotating. And the rate of rotation determines the duration of a day. So the massive Chile earthquake, which measured a whopping 8.8 on the Richter scale, has affected the duration of the day, even though the change is quite negligible at just 1.26 microseconds.
“Any worldly event that involves the movement of mass affects the Earth’s rotation,” according to Benjamin Fong Chao, who belongs to the NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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Tags: axis, chao, chile earthquake, distribution changes, duration, earth, goddard space flight, goddard space flight center, greenbelt maryland, microseconds, nasa, richter scale, scientists, space flight center, washington dc