8 thoughts on “No Wonder I Had Trouble Getting Up This Morning”
So, did the earthquake pull mass closer to the center?
My calculator is busted, how many of those do we need before we can do away with Leap Year?
Where does the time go? Now we have an answer.
Interesting. Perhaps the Earth’s crust is experiencing more drag from the Moon than the core is, and one function of these mega-quakes is to shift some of the core’s rotational momentum out to the crust.
So, did the earthquake pull mass closer to the center?
It’s probably a case of oceanic crust subduction. My guess is that a dense oceanic plate, most likely the Pacific plate, slid downwards a dozen or two meters, under a less dense crustal plate, probably the South American plate (which might have risen a bit, but not enough to change things).
Interesting. Perhaps the Earth’s crust is experiencing more drag from the Moon than the core is, and one function of these mega-quakes is to shift some of the core’s rotational momentum out to the crust.
The mantle probably transfers all of that angular momentum inefficiently to the crust. Here, the quake is probably due to a combination of continental plate collisions with a difference in density. The continental plate motion is apparently due to massive thermal convection in the mantle. It’s work done as the result of heat escaping from Earth’s interior.
I should have said “effect” instead of “function” to convey my meaning properly.
The mantle probably transfers all of that angular momentum inefficiently to the crust.
As I understand it, the mantle’s consistency is soft enough to be somewhat elastic over time, given sufficient stress. What I was thinking (IANAG) was, a strong rupture in a crust fault with deep roots could weaken the connection between crust and mantle and the result could be a subsequent rebound impact that might increase the crust’s momentum.
A little of knowledge, and all that…
Don’t forget the earth’s rotation is slowing due to tidal friction, increasing the length of a day by about 1.5-2 milliseconds per century. If I did my arithmetic correctly, this means the quake undid about 23-30 days worth of tidal friction slowing.
1.26 microseconds doesn’t sound like a whole lot of time but I think that Earthquake just saved us 3 billion dollars on the debt clock.
So, did the earthquake pull mass closer to the center?
My calculator is busted, how many of those do we need before we can do away with Leap Year?
Where does the time go? Now we have an answer.
Interesting. Perhaps the Earth’s crust is experiencing more drag from the Moon than the core is, and one function of these mega-quakes is to shift some of the core’s rotational momentum out to the crust.
So, did the earthquake pull mass closer to the center?
It’s probably a case of oceanic crust subduction. My guess is that a dense oceanic plate, most likely the Pacific plate, slid downwards a dozen or two meters, under a less dense crustal plate, probably the South American plate (which might have risen a bit, but not enough to change things).
Interesting. Perhaps the Earth’s crust is experiencing more drag from the Moon than the core is, and one function of these mega-quakes is to shift some of the core’s rotational momentum out to the crust.
The mantle probably transfers all of that angular momentum inefficiently to the crust. Here, the quake is probably due to a combination of continental plate collisions with a difference in density. The continental plate motion is apparently due to massive thermal convection in the mantle. It’s work done as the result of heat escaping from Earth’s interior.
I should have said “effect” instead of “function” to convey my meaning properly.
As I understand it, the mantle’s consistency is soft enough to be somewhat elastic over time, given sufficient stress. What I was thinking (IANAG) was, a strong rupture in a crust fault with deep roots could weaken the connection between crust and mantle and the result could be a subsequent rebound impact that might increase the crust’s momentum.
A little of knowledge, and all that…
Don’t forget the earth’s rotation is slowing due to tidal friction, increasing the length of a day by about 1.5-2 milliseconds per century. If I did my arithmetic correctly, this means the quake undid about 23-30 days worth of tidal friction slowing.
1.26 microseconds doesn’t sound like a whole lot of time but I think that Earthquake just saved us 3 billion dollars on the debt clock.