Great, thanks to that Chilean Earthquake our day just got shorter - I kid you not!

[LynneSin]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aLAUn4Gy92ss&pos=10

Chilean Quake Likely Shifted Earth’s Axis, NASA Scientist Says Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Alex Morales

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet. This affects the Earth’s rotation, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects.

“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).”

[Arugula Latte]

1. Well, I KNEW there was a reason I didn't get as much done yesterday as I would have liked.

And it had NOTHING to do with me frittering away time on DU. NOTHING.

[rug]

2. There goes my schedule.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. I THOUGHT it got darker a little earlier yesterday... now I know why. n/t

[MiddleFingerMom]

4. That means Friday evening is even closer than I had hoped!!!

.
THANK YOU, CHILE!!!!!
.

[Beetwasher]

5. It Wasn't The Earthquake That Shifted The Earth On It's Axis!!

It was my luvin' baby! I'm THAT good!