ember Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 wtf?!? Scientists: Quake may have made Earth wobble LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The deadly Asian earthquake may have permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation -- shortening days by a fraction of a second -- and caused the planet to wobble on its axis, U.S. scientists said Tuesday.Richard Gross, a geophysicist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, theorized that a shift of mass toward the Earth's center during the quake Sunday caused the planet to spin 3 microseconds, or one millionth of a second, faster and to tilt about an inch on its axis. When one huge tectonic plate beneath the Indian Ocean was forced below the edge of another "it had the effect of making the Earth more compact and spinning faster," Gross said. Gross said changes predicted by his model probably are too minuscule to be detected by a global positioning satellite network that routinely measures changes in Earth's spin, but said the data may reveal a slight wobble. The Earth's poles travel a circular path that normally varies by about 33 feet , so an added wobble of an inch is unlikely to cause long-term effects, he said. "That continual motion is just used to changing," Gross said. "The rotation is not actually that precise. The Earth does slow down and change its rate of rotation." When those tiny variations accumulate, planetary scientists must add a "leap second" to the end of a year, something that has not been done in many years, Gross said. Scientists have long theorized that changes on the Earth's surface such as tide and groundwater shifts and weather could affect its spin but they have not had precise measurements to prove it, Caltech seismologist Hiroo Kanamori said. "Even for a very large event, the effect is very small," Kanamori said. "It's very difficult to change the rotation rate substantially." Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozric Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Well it was supposed to be the force of 1 million Hiroshima's, I don't see a bit of a Earth wobble as improbable when thinking of that amount of force. But it does sort of remind you how fragile this planet is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacik Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 I kind of expected this. It wont be noticable though :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phedot Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 [sarcasm]So that's why I was going to bed so late...[/sarcasm] :\ I'm a little bit scared about all those earthquakes... At about 2 weeks there was one near Portugal coast (don't know the exact distance from the coast) and it reached a 5.5 in Richter Scale, then the Asian with 9 and today another near Portugal coast about 60 miles far... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lardiop Veteran Posted December 29, 2004 Veteran Share Posted December 29, 2004 Really scary thing is the fact that the Richter Scale is logarithmic. Meaning an earthquake of 9.0 is 10x greater than an 8.0, 100x greater than a 7.0, 1000x greater than a 6.0 etc. The Asian 9.0 quake was stronger than all the measured earthquakes for the last 5 years put together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webeagle12 Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 this is scary man, how much earthquakes like that is our earth can take before something very serious going to happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK1150 Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 this is scary man, how much earthquakes like that is our earth can take before something very serious going to happen 585192995[/snapback] you act like these happen once a month. i really wouldn't worrk about the earth going off it's axis and heading to the sun or something like that because of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyout Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 that sounds weird.... anyway....the thing is the quake/faults that that occured....pretty much is a cirular thing around the Ring of Fire(Volcanos) that are on the parameter of the Pacific.... thing is they are wondering if the San Andres Fault line will quake also due to this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qdave Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Really scary thing is the fact that the Richter Scale is logarithmic. Meaning an earthquake of 9.0 is 10x greater than an 8.0, 100x greater than a 7.0, 1000x greater than a 6.0 etc.The Asian 9.0 quake was stronger than all the measured earthquakes for the last 5 years put together. 585192105[/snapback] i never knew it was based on logs. scary to think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozric Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 this is scary man, how much earthquakes like that is our earth can take before something very serious going to happen 585192995[/snapback] Sorry, but I find that comment extremely stupid, something serious DID happen. Do you mean before our planet is destroyed or a large amount of life or all life? When you consider the amount of dead and displaced aswell as the magnitude on a physical scale you should be a little more tactful of your context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XPGoD Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 They have just issued NEW Tsunami Warnings for people living 2 miles within the coastlines of the areas already hit Sunday... Two 5.4 magnatude earthquakes hit within 2 hours of one another. Sources FOXNews USGS real time Quake viewer Mind you those only show greater than 2.5 earthquakes worldwide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 ^wow...the number of quakes daily jumped after the 26th.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porssi Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 hmm... THIS wasn't on the news... it was quite feisty... MAP 8.1 2004/12/23 14:59:04 -50.163 160.419 10.0 NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 hmm... THIS wasn't on the news... it was quite feisty...MAP 8.1 2004/12/23 14:59:04 -50.163 160.419 10.0 NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND 585195694[/snapback] Thats cause its in the middle of nowhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gulfisland Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4123927.stm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Oh noes! t3h poor penguins :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexx Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 The earths core has stopped spinning! but seriously, the planet has dealt with earthquakles for millions of years. Something us humans may never be able to take control of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porssi Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Thats cause its in the middle of nowhere. 585195704[/snapback] yeh, it is, but usually quakes of this magnitude make it to the news... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacik Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 The earth will deal with the quakes in its own way. Weather or not it involves wiping out humanity in the process we cannot be sure. However if it happens then there is nothing we can do about it. Prehaps we where only meant to live for a certain amount of time and now it is time to move along to let new inhabitants enter our world... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#47 Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 .....move along to let new inhabitants enter our world... 585196041[/snapback] lol. Enter our world in which we've polluted, they're better off going to Mars. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyout Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 The earths core has stopped spinning!but seriously, the planet has dealt with earthquakles for millions of years. Something us humans may never be able to take control of. 585195872[/snapback] Thats right....damn nations trying to play god!!! Nuke the core!!!:p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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