Chile earthquake has made the day shorter by making the Earth spin faster, according to NASA scientists. But we may not realize it, because only shortened about one billion per second.
Richard Gross said, the earthquake shortened the length of day is approximately 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second). An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale struck the South American countries on Saturday that killed at least 795 people and injured hundreds of others.
The quake shifted the axis of the planet about eight centimeters. Gross, of the Laboratory of NASA in Pasadena, Calif., said the magnitude 9.1 Sumatra earthquake in 2004 also has shortened the length of day 6.8 microseconds.
He stated the changes are calculated in a permanent long day. However, Gross added, "These changes are very, very small." Length of day is the time it takes our planet to complete one round of rotation or 86,400 seconds or 24 hours.
Earthquakes can make the earth rotates faster by pushing some of the mass closer to the axis of the planet, such as ice skating players to speed up the rotation with the interesting parts of their arms.
Conversely, an earthquake can slow down the rotation and prolong the day when redistributing the mass away from the axis, Gross added.
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