Friday 11 March 2011

A little quicker spin on things



I'm sure everyone is aware of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that has devastated Japan and affected several countries and millions of lives.

I found this little bit of info while reading the online newspaper today. My thoughts are with all of those affected by this disaster. Stay safe, everyone!

Buildings burn in Yamada town, Iwate prefecture after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake hit  Friday March 11, 2011.


WASHINGTON - You won't notice it, but the day just got a tiny bit shorter because of Friday's giant earthquake off the coast of Japan.
NASA geophysicist Richard Gross calculated that Earth's rotation sped up by 1.6 microseconds. That is because of the shift in Earth's mass caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.
That change in rotation speed is slightly more than the one caused by last year's larger Chile earthquake. But 2004's bigger Sumatra earthquake caused a 6.8-microsecond shortening of the day.
The Japan quake is the fifth strongest since 1900.
Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

4 comments:

  1. It was horrific watching the expanding wall of black water sweep across some farms this morning.

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  2. XL: Yeah, I watched that too. You just know you are watching people lose their lives... and no one can do a damn thing about it. Mother Nature is fearsome.

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  3. And doesn't Mother Nature seem to be getting more aggressive these days?

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  4. Pat: Oh yes... I do believe we have done something to seriously piss her off... Gives you the impression she's trying to get rid of us pesky humans, doesn't it?

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So you have something to say about all this, do you?
Well, let's hear it, then!