great now we are all going to die that much sooner

[Hylian]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100302/sc_space/chileearthquakemayhaveshorteneddaysonearth

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 milliseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
\\\\"Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis,\\\\" NASA officials said in a Monday update.



The computer model used by Gross and his colleagues to determine the effects of the Chile earthquake effect also found that it should have moved Earth's figure axis by about 3 inches (8 cm or 27 milliarcseconds).
The Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis, which it spins around once every day at a speed of about 1,000 mph (1,604 kph).
The figure axis is the axis around which the Earth's mass is balanced. It is offset from the Earth's north-south axis by about 33 feet (10 meters).


Strong earthquakes have altered Earth's days and its axis in the past. The 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 2.76 inches (7 cm, or 2.32 milliarcseconds).
One Earth day is about 24 hours long. Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.
The Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, but its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location. Its epicenter was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.
The fault responsible for the 2010 Chile quake also slices through Earth at a steeper angle than the Sumatran quake's fault, NASA scientists said.



\\\\"This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis,\\\\" NASA officials said.
Gross said his findings are based on early data available on the Chile earthquake. As more information about its characteristics are revealed, his prediction of its effects will likely change.
The Chile earthquake has killed more than 700 people and caused widespread devastation in the South American country.



Several major telescopes in Chile's Atacama Desert have escaped damage, according to the European Southern Observatory managing them.
A salt-measuring NASA satellite instrument destined to be installed on an Argentinean satellite was also undamaged in the earthquake, JPL officials said.
The Aquarius instrument was in the city of Bariloche, Argentina, where it is being installed in the Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC-D) satellite.



The satellite integration facility is about 365 miles (588 km) from the Chile quake's epicenter.
The Aquarius instrument is designed to provide monthly global maps of the ocean's salt concentration in order to track current circulation and its role in climate change.

 

[Deschain]

It doesn't mean we're going to die much sooner. The day being shorter means that the rotation is faster which contributes to shorter, but more days, but not an overall reduction in lifespan.

Interesting, but only as a scientific curiosity. Sorry to burst your doom bubble.

 

[Hylian]

It doesn't mean we're going to die much sooner. The day being shorter means that the rotation is faster which contributes to shorter, but more dies, but not an overall reduction in lifespan.

Interesting, but only as a scientific curiosity.

I was just making a joke for the title

 

[Chazwozel]

We would die 'later'. The days are shorter, thus more days pass by, thus giving you more birthdays within your 'natural' lifespan.

 

[bhamv3]

Those 1.26 milliseconds a day add up, you know.

 

[Hylian]

We would die 'later'. The days are shorter, thus more days pass by, thus giving you more birthdays within your 'natural' lifespan.

yeah but now 2012 will get here sooner and as we all know were going to die in 2012 all becuase the Mayans decided we should all die just so they wouldn't have to keep making their calender.

 

[sixpackshaker]

That is like the Russians that got upset when they lost 11 days when they moved to the Gregorian Calendar.

 

[rabbitgod]

Or like how Dave got upset when they introduced the Julian Calendar.

 

[Rob King]

Or like how the gods got upset when Dave introduced time.

 

[sixpackshaker]

It was nice of Dave to do that. Now everything won't happen all at once.

 

[AshburnerX]

Even if this DID equate to a lessened life expectancy, we are quite literally talking seconds here. From cradle to the grave, you'd only lose 35.8722 seconds (at least by the Average US life expectancy of 78 years).

 

[Rob King]

And that's if this happens at all. The quoted article asserts that this has happened before, but all I've read on the subject is that it should have happened before, and seismologists were baffled as to why the earth's rotation did not slow.

Or rather, why it didn't slow more.

 

[Fun Size]

Even if this DID equate to a lessened life expectancy, we are quite literally talking seconds here. From cradle to the grave, you'd only lose 35.8722 seconds (at least by the Average US life expectancy of 78 years).

Dude, that's one full sexual encounter.

...

What?

 

[sixpackshaker]

Even if this DID equate to a lessened life expectancy, we are quite literally talking seconds here. From cradle to the grave, you'd only lose 35.8722 seconds (at least by the Average US life expectancy of 78 years).

Dude, that's one full sexual encounter.

...

What?[/QUOTE]

It was the best 45 seconds of her life.

 

[Philosopher B.]

I don't believe in premature ejaculation ... If I come, man, it was right on time.

[size=-10].[/size]

 

[@Li3n]

We would die 'later'. The days are shorter, thus more days pass by, thus giving you more birthdays within your 'natural' lifespan.

yeah but now 2012 will get here sooner and as we all know were going to die in 2012 all becuase the Mayans decided we should all die just so they wouldn't have to keep making their calender.[/QUOTE]

Hey, they gave us like 400 years after they where gone... that's very generous seeing how we're the reason they're not around no more...

 

[Denbrought]

Even if this DID equate to a lessened life expectancy, we are quite literally talking seconds here. From cradle to the grave, you'd only lose 35.8722 seconds (at least by the Average US life expectancy of 78 years).

Suuure, 35.8722 seconds here, then 35.8722 seconds there AND THEN IT'S ALL OVER JERRY!