As many of you know, this weekend is Daylight Saving Time. At 2:00 am on Sunday, we set our clocks ahead one hour and loose an hour of sleep. We do this to take advantage of the longer and later days, using less energy to light our homes.
Did you know that a couple of weeks ago our days have actually become shorter? What am I talking about?
The earthquake that struck Chile on February 27, 2010 actually shifted the earth's figure axis about 3 inches. This is what has caused our days to become 1.26 microsecond shorter, one millionth of a second. It will take over 130,000 years to take one minute off. This is not the first time this has happened, in 2004 the magnitude 9.1 eartquake shortened our days by 6.8 microseconds.
On the other hand, the length of a day also can increase. For example, if the Three Gorges reservoir in China were filled, it would hold 10 trillion gallons of water. The shift of mass would lengthen days by 0.06 microsecond.
Is there any way we can choose which day is shorter and which is longer?
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2 comments:
I was very intrigued when I heard about the effects of the earthquake on the length of our days.
You are OBSESSED with pregnancy. Don't ever wish that on me! : )
Thanks for the Zyrtec info. I'll get to Rite Aid. I should have coupons.
Well what are the Chinese waiting for? I could use that extra time!
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