Scientists: Quake may have made Earth wobble

[kostya]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/12/29/quake.wobble.reut/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The deadly Asian earthquake may have permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening days by a fraction of a second and caused the planet to wobble on its axis, U.S. scientists said Tuesday.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, theorized that a shift of mass toward the Earth's center during the quake Sunday caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds, or one millionth of a second, faster and to tilt about an inch on its axis.

Beautiful picture of the Earth accompanying the article. - K

[BlueJazz]

1. Yes..Yes..Yes!! I hope this means I get 3 millionths of...

...a second extra sleep from now on.
..And there are those that think this tragedy doesn't have a silver lining.

Damn..wait a minute...it shortened the day.
Great..Just Great.

Friend: Geez..you look tired.
Me: What the hell do you expect?...I'm sleeping shorter times now...

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Sorry...if the days are shorter...that would mean that you get less sleep.

[truthisfreedom]

i was wondering what that wobbling was.

[Benhurst]

3. No wonder I'm falling behind. How am I supposed to catch up

with shorter days?

[indigobusiness]

4. I wonder how this will effect the magnetic field?

Which is already in a bit of a funk.

[Moderator]

5. locking

discuss here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1103394