I just found out that I'll spend 1.26 microseconds less with you people per day..

[trumad]

Damn!

(CNN) -- The massive earthquake that struck Chile last week might have shifted the Earth's axis and created shorter days, scientists at NASA say.

The change is negligible, but permanent: Each day should be 1.26 microseconds shorter, according to preliminary calculations. A microsecond is one-millionth of a second.

A large quake shifts massive amounts of rock and alters the distribution of mass on the planet.

When that distribution changes, it changes the rate at which the planet rotates. And the rotation rate determines the length of a day.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/03/02/chile.quake/index.html?hpt=T1

[rpannier]

1. That's Interesting

Thanks

[John1956PA]

4. The quake must have caused the planet to spin faster.

Yes, rp, that is interesting. Do you think tectonic shifts caused by future earthquakes might cause the planet to spin slower?

[rpannier]

11. No idea

I just found the idea interesting.
Nothing more or less

[dipsydoodle]

2. Life's a bitch

and then you die. :)

:hi:

[trumad]

3. It now appears quicker..

;-)

[dipsydoodle]

17. I couldn't resist

give you #5 for that.

[mrcheerful]

5. Don't tell me..........you got a sex life

just think another 999,999 earth quakes and your day will be short a whole second.

[trumad]

7. LOL

My wife thinks it's to short as it is... excuse the pun.

[mrcheerful]

9. Well after I was reading what I posted I came up with a few more ideals on that

such as 999,999 more earth quakes and you can get another wife, if you feel one isn't enough, or can you take a nap.

[Uben]

6. Ahhh! A moment of peace!

Now, back to work!

[madokie]

8. Also would that not change the distance from the sun a tad too?

[trotsky]

13. No, this is just the earth's rotation (spin).

Neither the mass of the earth nor its orbital speed have changed.

It's like sitting on a rotating chair with your arms extended, then pulling them in. You spin faster - conservation of angular momentum.

[crazyjoe]

10. If the earths rotation slows, will we all gain a couple of pounds?

gravity and all that.

[rpannier]

12. God I hope not

I've done a fairly decent job over the past few years at losing weight

That would be incredibly depressing to have it undone by an Earthquake

[Earth_First]

14. "you people"

:shrug:

[trumad]

15. Yep---you damn DUer's

spent the last 9 years of my life in this joint... I can't figure out if it's Rehab or Nirvana.

[FormerDittoHead]

16. So do we still set the clocks forward in a couple of weeks? :-) n/t

[unblock]

18. given the same mass, shrinking the planet size would cause it to spin faster

earthquakes generally are a collapsing/settling of matter, and therefore shrink the planet by a tiny amount.

there's nothing particularly unique about this earthquake in this respect, other than that the still-negligible time is slightly larger than usual.