Courtesy of Woodleywonderworks (via Flickr)
The earthquake and chaos that has followed over the weekend in Chile is on many of our minds. The devastation and sadness is clearly taking a very large toll. And our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those trying to deal with this disaster.
Although we’ve seen some of the effects of the quake, the 8.8 magnitude earthquake may have done more than our eyes can even see. It may have actually shortened the length of each Earth day.
A research scientist found that while tiny in scale, the earthquake shifted the Earth off of its figure axis (NASA: the axis about which Earth‘s mass is balanced) by 3 inches. This means our days are now shortened by about one millionth of a second. Not a huge deal, but fascinating nonetheless. We’ll likely learn more as researchers gain more data about the quake.
Until then, remember to prepare for the worst and of course, hope for the best. The Beehive can help you start a plan and prepare for any type of disaster.
