Are days getting shorter?

[tyred]

I know we're heading towards Spring, but...

Is the size of the Earth getting smaller due to tectonic plate movements, thus reducing the length of a day?

These things keep me awake at night. I need to sleep easy.

Regards,
Maz.

Earth getting smaller?

Excellent. Less distance to get to work

 

[Hover Fly]

may i suggest the mass is reducing as we burn solids into gas

But assuming the gas doesn't leave the atmosphere its mass is still present.

 

[mr Mag00]

some of the gas must leave the atmosphere

 

[accountantpete]

Actually,bits of the Earth like The Andes,are so big that when the wind blows the wrong way the planet's rotation slows down.

 

[mr Mag00]

hmmm?
peer reviewed paper please

 

[SavageHoutkop]

disturbing R4 program the other day about us using up rare elements. Helium is mined at the moment from texas? and when we let all those little balloons go, that's it, helium goes into outer space.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

disturbing R4 program the other day about us using up rare elements. Helium is mined at the moment from texas? and when we let all those little balloons go, that's it, helium goes into outer space.

Yes indeed. Helium results from radioactive decay in the earth's crust - so drilling an oil well will release some. It is sufficiently light that it can effectively "boil" off the top of the atmosphere. I suppose the boiling also applies to Hydrogen gas (being lighter still). But Hydrogen is mostly locked up in water (and there's plenty of that).

 

[Fnaar]

But presumably () that helium is sort of making the earth more buoyant, and if we let it all go, then the earth will sink a bit lower down, meaning permanent daylight for the northern hemisphere, and permanent dark for the southern hemisphere. Time to invest in an Australian bike light company, methinks.

 

[Maz]

The days are a millionth of a second shorter since the Chile earthquake apparently, but nothing to lose sleep over. Just get up a millionth of a second earlier and you'll hardly notice the difference.

Aha! This would explain why I was more tired than usual this morning (I did lose sleep over it). It all makes sense now. Thanks for the confirmation.

Case closed.

 

[HobbesChoice]

Glad I could help.

 

[Hilldodger]

Is the size of the Earth getting smaller due to tectonic plate movements.

Yep, and we're all having to stand almost 1mm closer together now.

Something else for you to worry about

 

[on the road]

I know we're heading towards Spring, but...

Is the size of the Earth getting smaller due to tectonic plate movements, thus reducing the length of a day?

These things keep me awake at night. I need to sleep easy.

Regards,
Maz.

Well actually, no.

I've just finished a science course with that in it. The plates are a bit like a conveyor belt, as part of the plate disapears under another plate, the same amount re-emerges from the ocean ridges so keeping the same amount on the surface of the earth.

 

[Arch]

Surely, even with subduction, the tectonic plates make up for it elsewhere? The bit that gets pushed under and liquified, surely reappears somewhere else (like the mid oceanic vents). Even at geological pace, plate movement would be pretty significant if it was all shrinking, over millennia...

Still, anything that reduces the distance of the next LEL has to be good...

 

[on the road]

Great minds think alike

 

[addictfreak]

No, Maz... the reason the days are getting shorter is that you are getting older and as we all know, the older you get the faster time passes. Downhill all the way now sweetie!

Its not just the days. The years are getting shorter too im sure. Bloody March already