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Quake May Have Altered Earth's Rotation
Drudge Report ^ | 12/27/04 | Matt Drudge

Posted on 12/27/2004 6:48:27 PM PST by wagglebee

May have shortened the day by 3 microseconds, said gravity expert Richard Gross of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena... On premise a slab slid into core, Gross said he's done calculations 'to see what effect this (earthquake) should have had.' The result: A day shortened... 'We won't know for weeks,' said a geophysicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'So it's a guess, as of now'...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: archaeology; earthquake; earthsrotation; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; sumatraquake; tsunami
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To: Jorge

Isn't that backwards? Slowing the rotation would mean it's 3 seconds LONGER.


101 posted on 12/27/2004 8:14:06 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: Jorge

We're doomed, absolutely doomed!! This means in 333,000 years we'll have to set our clocks ahead one whole second. How will humanity get everything done without that second? Democrats will try to set up a Senate Subcomitte with 28 consultants and a $5 million budget to study this troubling development.


102 posted on 12/27/2004 8:14:47 PM PST by defenderSD (The number of people who lie about space aliens for $ far exceeds the number of aliens on earth.)
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To: wagglebee

Dang, my grade school buddy got me a watch and clock set for Christmas and I'll have to recalibrate every watch and clock I have. B-) Time to fire up WWV on the shortwave and recalibrate everything again. B-) BTW, I wonder if the National Institute of Standards and Technology will have to recalibrate the atomic clock again? I remember every since the 1970's, they had to put in a "leap second" every few years to compensate for the slowing of the Earth's rotation.


103 posted on 12/27/2004 8:15:11 PM PST by Nowhere Man (We have enough youth, how about a Fountain of Smart?)
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To: Bean Counter
And, despite what the environmentalists would have us believe, man's power to damage the planet pales beside the forces of nature...

Some nutjob called Rush's show today (with Roger Hedgecock subbing for Rush) and tried to say that we have messed up the surface of the earth by building highways, blasting tunnels through the mountains, sucking gas and water from beneath the earth, etc. and have messed up the stability of the earth, which is no longer like a geodesic dome because we have pulled so many of the props out ... or some such weird thing. Roger cut him off pretty quickly so one didn't have to listen to much of his drivel ... and stated that earthquakes, etc., have been happening since long before man was driving SUVs ... or even inhabiting the planet.

104 posted on 12/27/2004 8:15:26 PM PST by kayak (Merry CHRISTmas!)
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To: poindexter

No, micro- means millionth, as in micrometer. Milli- means thousandth, as in millimeter.
A microgram is a millionth of a gram. A micosecond is a millionth of a second.

Darn! I just used up much more time telling you this.


105 posted on 12/27/2004 8:15:43 PM PST by docbnj
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To: wagglebee
Just a thought?....Nahhhhhhh......


106 posted on 12/27/2004 8:17:21 PM PST by LisaMalia (I DEFY anyone on FR to prove they know less than me....or is it I?)
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To: wagglebee

According to my calculations, it was more in the neighborhood of 4 microseconds. Give or take 3 or 4 microseconds.


107 posted on 12/27/2004 8:19:13 PM PST by F.J. Mitchell (I resolve for 2005, to live my life as I would be if I had kept all my previous resolutions.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
I think not. You seem to imply that there's a deceleration of 3 microseconds per year for a million years? I read it that way. Sorry.

You're right. I misread the article as 3 microseconds/year when it actually said 3 microseconds/DAY!

So I was off by a factor of 365! Good observation.

So instead of 3 seconds per million years it is actually 3 seconds per million yrs/365. Right?

108 posted on 12/27/2004 8:21:25 PM PST by Jorge
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To: LisaMalia

"That's 3 less microseconds that I have to spend at work tomorrow......"

If you work a typical 8 hour day you might spend 1 less microsecond at work on a typical "great-quake-shortened" day. The 3 less microseconds is over a typical 24 hour day.


109 posted on 12/27/2004 8:22:51 PM PST by GGpaX4DumpedTea
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To: Skywarner

ROFLMAO


110 posted on 12/27/2004 8:22:59 PM PST by Shortstop7
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To: wagglebee

Based on continued estimates from some regions, I will be shocked if tomorrow it doesn't rise to at least 30,000.


111 posted on 12/27/2004 8:24:34 PM PST by rwfromkansas ("War is an ugly thing, but...the decayed feeling...which thinks nothing worth war, is worse." -Mill)
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To: Sloth
Uh, no, it's not at all. He (or she) is right & you are wrong.

Do you know where I was wrong and he/she was right?

I misread the article as 3 microseconds per year instead of per day.

112 posted on 12/27/2004 8:26:05 PM PST by Jorge
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To: Jorge

The article is not perfectly clear. I think he said the length of the day might be shortened by approximately 3 microseconds. IF - contary to fact - the earth rotated at a uniform unchanging rate then a step change of 0.000003 seconds would mean the length of the would change from 86400 to 86399.999997 seconds per day. You do the math from here.


113 posted on 12/27/2004 8:28:25 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Uday and Qusay are ead-day.)
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To: harrowup
"Slowing the rotation of the earth will lessen gravity "

is that so?

.

114 posted on 12/27/2004 8:28:40 PM PST by phxaz ( Have A Cool Yule!! )
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To: LibertarianInExile
Isn't that backwards? Slowing the rotation would mean it's 3 seconds LONGER.

Yes, you're right it means LONGER days not SHORTER. (I am such a retard)

115 posted on 12/27/2004 8:29:47 PM PST by Jorge
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets
IF - contary to fact - the earth rotated at a uniform unchanging rate then a step change of 0.000003 seconds would mean the length of the would change from 86400 to 86399.999997 seconds per day.

Now I'm getting depressed.

116 posted on 12/27/2004 8:32:16 PM PST by Jorge
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To: Indy Pendance

Happy Birthday!


117 posted on 12/27/2004 8:33:05 PM PST by scott7278 (All your SCOTUS are belong to us!)
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To: Jorge
Do you know where I was wrong and he/she was right? I misread the article as 3 microseconds per year instead of per day.

That, and the fact that the rotation is supposed to have sped up, not slowed down. And it wasn't clear whether you mean a day a million years from now will actually be 3 seconds shorter, or if that's just the cumulative difference over that period.

118 posted on 12/27/2004 8:35:36 PM PST by Sloth (Al Franken is a racist.)
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To: Jorge
We should all be very worried about this.

I am. I am.

119 posted on 12/27/2004 8:38:13 PM PST by Fiddlstix (This Tagline for sale. (Presented by TagLines R US))
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To: kayak
Some nutjob called Rush's show today (with Roger Hedgecock subbing for Rush) and tried to say that we have messed up the surface of the earth by building highways, blasting tunnels through the mountains, sucking gas and water from beneath the earth, etc. and have messed up the stability of the earth, which is no longer like a geodesic dome because we have pulled so many of the props out ... or some such weird thing.

Sounds like one of my relatives. The good news for me is that I will now have to spend slightly less time with them whenever I see them.

120 posted on 12/27/2004 8:40:10 PM PST by Heatseeker
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