Weekend post

on Saturday, February 27 2010 Chile suffered a devastating earthquake that have scientists saying it shortened days.The massive earthquake that struck Chile on Saturday may have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say. according to NASA scientists, because of the earthquake days are now 1.26 microseconds shorter. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second. Scientists use the analogy of a skater. When he pulls in his arms, he spins faster. That's because pulling in his arms changes the distribution of the skater's mass and therefore the speed of his rotation. 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 (40 cubic kilometers) of water. The shift of mass would lengthen days by 0.06 microsecond, scientists said. Chile earthquake