Slashdot Mirror
Chilean Earthquake Shortened Earth's Day
ailnlv writes "Days on Earth just got shorter. The recent earthquake in Chile shifted the planet's axis by about 8 cm and shortened days by 1.26 microseconds 'The changes can be modeled, though they're difficult to detect physically given their small size. ... Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted. ... Santa Maria Island off the coast near Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, may have been raised 2 meters (6 feet) as a result of the latest quake ...'"
I can go home a few microseconds early today.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
the PlayStation Network went down?
Yeah, that just happened.
Given the axial shift will that have a measurable impact on the climate in a measurable way?
Your pizza just the way you ought to have it.
I've never seen that before.
"I don't care about the Constitution!" --Bill O'Reilly, November 17, 2009
Crap, I was going to post something funny, but now I'm 1.26 microseconds late. Sorry, I gotta run...
Now we just have to harness this, and we won't have to worry about low-lying coastal areas being swept away by flooding and rising oceans!
I mean, don't forget that a day only has 86,400 seconds (give or take...). One such quake doesn't really matter. A hundred won't. A million will start to matter. A billion definitly will.
And of course, they don't happen every day but, well, a billion years ain't that long if you're a planet...
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Oh, for fuck's sake! I've got too much shit to do already! And now, I have 1.26 microseconds less to do it in??!! Scheisse! Of course, maybe I shouldn't post on slashdot. Maybe that would save more than 1.26 microseconds.
Similar to the upcoming US election results
Does this affect GPS for a short time? I understand that the USAF (or whoever runs it) will correct the system, but how quickly does this occur? Would it affect a JDAM bomb in flight, for example?
So they talk about the "Ice-Skater Effect", even though they say that goes on "forever" wouldn't it wear off as buildings are rebuilt and new trees grow? What else is shifted closer to the center of the earth of any significant mass that they are aware of to come up with such a specific number?
I am a lover of science, but I'm still amazed that this kind of nit-picking is treated as though it's newsworthy. So the day (I assume that by 'day', they mean the rotation of the Earth on its axis) just got microseconds shorter. Will it affect global climate? Will it affect ecosystems? In short - will it affect anything in any way that would result in any of us actually giving a crap about it?
Remember, this is only what a model predicts, unlike what the headline suggests. And anyway, I think even if the quake had effects on day length and/or axis, another quake somewhere else on Earth sets it back a little. It averages out to what we witness. Earth is a dynamic place.
Would it affect a JDAM bomb in flight, for example?
This is just a guess, but- yes? By 8cm?
Please help metamoderate.
I read years ago that all the river damming projects changed the length of the day. A tiny amount but still we had an impact.
Earthquakes often cause sudden changes. A friend could see the top of the tower at Six Flags Amusement Park from her apartment before the Northridge quake but the mountain raised enough during the quake that she couldn't see the tower. It's not uncommon for Mountains to raise several feet in a major quake. Mountain height changes balance which would affect days.
I couldn't enter the right code from my WOW authenticator because now the Space-Time continuum is all messed up! How will Arthas be defeated now??
But according to my calculations, all we have to do is set our calendars back a day... ... in 188,253,750 (ish) years.
I wonder how the PS3 will handle this.
People of Earth, at 18:00 GMT March 10 we all jump at the same time and regain our microsecond!
i'm waiting for someone to link this quake to gloabl warming, or atleast some news reporter to ask the question.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Will it affect global climate?
Yes - the days are shorter, therefore less sunlight per day, ergo - global cooling!
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Im horrible at math so how many seconds shorter are our days each year now.
The bomb controller only has to hit the button 1.25 microseconds sooner. Easy! Like I said, not a problem.
Missed it by 1.26 microseconds. Damn.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Dude, maybe we should really turn that LHC off.
I mean, seriously. At least tone it down a little. You're making the <b>Earth</b> move.
“It’s what we call the ice-skater effect,” David Kerridge, head of Earth hazards and systems at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said today in a telephone interview. “As the ice skater puts when she’s going around in a circle, and she pulls her arms in, she gets faster and faster. It’s the same idea with the Earth going around if you change the distribution of mass, the rotation rate changes.”
No, it's not. It's called the "bored to death at the office and nobody's watching" effect. You spin your chair rapidly and lift your legs from the ground. Then put your arms out -- you'll slow down. Pull them back in -- you'll speed up.
Also, "As the ice skater puts when she’s going around in a circle"? Did somebody miss a word there?
Shoddy writing, bad analogies, this is an embarrassment.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
The nanosecond the earth stood still.
You spin your chair rapidly and lift your legs from the ground. Then put your arms out -- you'll slow down. Pull them back in -- you'll speed up.
And if you throw it afterwards, you become Steve Ballmer.
Not hard to believe that the quality of journalism is declining when you read a comment like "Santa Maria Island ... may have been raised 2 meters (6 feet) as a result of the latest quake." Hmmm, too bad we can't measure something on a scale accurate enough to know if this is close to being true. I'm guessing that if the Island was raised, they meant "in relation to sea level." Of course, with all those waves, it really makes it tough to measure ... how on earth did that comment get by the editors.
i time my activities in femtoseconds. ...yes, i realize i just burned myself, but i can't resist using the word "femtoseconds".
Fuck! Just when I thought I had the whole java.util.Date class down.
What does it all mean? Calculate....calculate...
Goddamnit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Another update for my users lest their date become corrupted 1.2 million years from now!
I'm sick of it!!!!!
The earth is naturally slowing down at a rate that makes this sort of thing hardly worth mentioning. That is why we have leap seconds.
Several milliseconds (per year) total when every year we drift ~500 ms? A few thousand such earthquakes and we might be able to put off a leap second for another year.
With the BIG Indian Ocean quake a few years ago? Why do is it suddenly big news when a smaller quake does the same thing a few years later? Isn't it fair to assume that quakes of any significantly large magnitude do this? And don't we have quakes of that magnitude every few years?
How long before this gets reflected in tzdata?
My subject is my post.
I had wondered why the shadow on my balcony tarp, which I use to mark seasonal progress, suddenly took a one-month JUMP shadow-wise. (about three inches)
Holy fuck imagine if we had a 9.9 somewhere.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Earthquake.
After all, everything else is explained by it
So does this mean atomic clocks aren't accurate anymore? Buahah glad I didn't purchase stock!!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
This is precisely the kind of sloppiness that lost us Challenger.
Snoozed my alarm this morning to make use of it. It's really the microseconds that matter!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
More people die in car accidents every single day than died in this earthquake.
And that, I think, is actually a real problem---it would be really great if you could somehow get people to drive a bit more safely. It'd save a lot of lives, including the lives of a bunch of productive citizens, i.e. it'd also bring more material wealth for everybody.
Yeah, sure, that shouldn't take the spotlight away from a recent significant event (which also has a lot of wounded and property damage).
But maybe it's something worth pouring resources into?
The Force is 1.26 microseconds more accurate. And it is more real!
Stupidity is its own reward.
I think if everyone in the world stands up and raises their arms for 10 seconds once per year, we can compensate for this.
Hurray, technically everyone lives slightly longer, except for the 700+ who died in the earthqauke,
Women, rejoice, you are younger than you thought.
Men, continue not to care as long as the girl is at least 18.
Sexually confused people. you still dont count.
People offended by the last line, note that I posted anon specifically so that I don't have to listen to you (or vegetarians, or christians, or literally any other dumbass)
I mean, I get the fact that tidal forces (Earth Moon) have a braking effect on rotation of each body, and I get the fact that the distance between the centres of mass of the two bodies changes as the speed of rotation winds down.
What I do not get is how SHIFTING MASS on the SURFACE of the Earth a few metres, eg an earthquake, changes the speed of rotation???
Model it on a flywheel or gyroscope with a movable mass at the rim, sure, WHILE THE movable mass at the rim of the flywheel IS IN MOTION the flywheel RPM will change, but when the movable mass is at rest again total RPM will be the same.
AFAICR the only way to change RPM with unchanged mass is to move mass towards or away from the axis of rotation, which earthquakes, being crustal events, cannot do...
Geo-physics or celestial mechanics guys help me out, please.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
Such earth quakes are a threat to life on earth. We must find a solution to this problem. http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/acai-optimum-review-get-free-trial-now-1704552.html
While I am new to Chile I do know my facts. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Chile#Largest_cities Concepción is not even in the top 10 Cities. The Conurbation of Concepción is the second largest Conurbation.
Read more and learn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conurbation
The GPL, for those that truely understand.
...going by faster because I am getting older.
What if anything does this have to do with the Mayan Calendar, I mean did they predict this or has this thrown off their calculations?
Sure, go ahead and post that link. Next thing you know, they'll be slashdotted and today will last 28 hours :(
Now they're going to try to cut my pay.
Its ok though, because it offset the effect of the three gorges dam in china, which made the days longer. http://www.theenergylibrary.com/node/11435 sure, that dam lengthened the day by less than the earthquake shortened it, but we also have to account for other dams that have lengthened days.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
You forgot: Do nothing.
the earth has 4 CORNER SIMULTANEOUS 4-DAY TIME CUBE
http://timecube.com/
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I know there is an underrated 3rd axis the planet spins on that has been a bit off lately and imo the real culprit for the climate changes. ....setting off many nuclear bombs, and having such terrible earthquakes. I have my suspicions about that .....I am sure the tsunami a while back that destroyed most of sri lanka was quite possibly due to some nuclear testing done way out in the ocean, by engineers that thought there would be no repercussions.
This just reconfirms it for me, that such a quake in such a small area could actually affect the whole globe.
Such a delicate axis we have
like some strategically placed nukes way below the earth's core....set to detonate
Alas, I am a very sad and pessimistic type, almost paranoid when it comes to what governments are willing to do to their own people
to get what they want, but I also see just how governments interact with each other, or lack of, when they are told by other governments not to proceed. Did we ever find out what was happening with that dude from North Kim Jong-il that wanted to have his own nuclear arsenal....they needed to test as well.....I wonder....
but to an android, it is nearly an eternity.
Mayan calendar is likely out sync anyways and DID WE GET ours right to start anyways? Like did we start on 0 or 1? did we even all start the 0 on time DID we for get about leap years for some time? What did time zones do to the sync? The railroads started the time zone thing.
No, it's all according to plan. This was simply Quexarotflmao resetting the celestial clock to compensate for 3 extra butterflies flapping their wings in Madagascar last year. The end of the b'ak'tun approaches apace. All is as it should be.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
The 2010's called, they want their 1.26 microseconds back.
There's 1.26 microseconds less time in every day now?!? No wonder I haven't been able to get anything done since the earthquake!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Great that they can analyze this to the gnat's eyelash, yet I don't even know if we can get the general part right.
Some think that the earthquake magnitude distribution is due to a self-organized critical phenomena, yet the actual answer may be more mundane.
http://mobjectivist.blogspot.com/2010/02/quaking.html
As E.T. Jaynes said:
In any field, the Establishment is seldom in pursuit of the truth, because it is composed of those who sincerely believe that they are already in possession of it.
This is /. and there are no geeks here with girlfriends. Although an odd few do somehow manage to get wives.
So, no he probably can't make more time available by making love to his girlfriend a few less time times per week
Now perhaps he could make love to his imaginary girlfriend a few less times per week.
To assuage the Church, Osiander changed Copernicus' book, claiming that the heliocentric model was only used to simply calculations.
From wikipedia:
Osiander added an unauthorised and unsigned preface, defending the work against those who might be offended by the novel hypotheses. He explained that astronomers may find different causes for observed motions, and choose whatever is easier to grasp. As long as a hypothesis allows reliable computation, it does not have to match what a philosopher might seek as the truth.
http://www.xkcd.com/162/
For us in the disaster zone (I am in Temuco 100 miles south of the worst hit areas), it feels like 48 hour days. They likly will just get longer as this goes on.
if you want to help, visit http://www.allchile.net/
Living in Chile
In Chaos Theory, a small change to the inputs can cause large changes to the results. However the changes are just as likelly to go in one direction as they are to go in the opposite direction: the butterfly effect is just as likelly to result in a typhoon instead of clear weather as it is to result in clear weather instead of a typhoon.
In a chaotic system, the long-term effects of small changes to the initial conditions cannot be deterministically predicted. (That's the "chaos" part.) However, it's not all even chances--some outcomes are more likely than others (that's the "theory" part.)
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
The density of the planet could increase over time if the Earth's interior experiences a net loss of heat to the climate and thus to outer space. The interior is mostly hot iron, which shrinks as it cools.
Don't worry though, any speed up would be more than offset by the tidal drag from the moon. :-)
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I'm wondering that since the earth's internal is slowly cooling would that not over time cause a decrease in outward pressure and result in a slow contraction thus greater density?
Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.
Are we talking about MY cup of coffee or YOURS?
Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.
Which is more important: world hunger, a cup of coffee, or me not getting my morning coffee and going apeshit and bringing down destruction on the entire world?
Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.
Well I'm sure sea levels were raised, or lowered, too...somewhere. Call Danny Glover and Al Gore!
That Wikipedia article mixes communes (municipalities) and cities. La Florida, 365,563 inhabitants, is not and has never been a city. Puente Alto (492,603 inhabitants) was a separate city 20 years ago, but not now. A conurbation is a fancy name that means currently a city, even if 50 years ago there were many of them.