Quasin  wrote:
> Someone in Bible study last night said if the earthquake had lasted 
> one second longer, the earth would have been thrown out of orbit into 
> space.  Utter nonsense, but I'm trying to track down where this 
> statement came from.  I'm not finding it on google.


Kind of silly since in order for that to happen, we'd have to somehow
escape the gravity of the sun.  In fact, I'm not aware of any
measurable change in Earth's orbit; such a change if it did occur
could be potentially devastating as it could place us in the path of
an asteroid or comet that would not otherwise hit us.  (Of course, it
would be equally likely to take us *out* of the path of something that
otherwise would.)

A possible source of that rumor would be that the rotational period of
the Earth (i.e., the length of a day) did change slightly but
measurably.  The quake and tsunami caused a slight change in the
diameter of the Earth, which, due to conservation of angular momentum,
correspondingly changed the rotation period of the earth.  These kinds
of changes do occur from time to time and are accounted for by the
design of GPS and of geosynchronous satellites, and, if necessary, the
calendar will be adjusted by adding or removing a "leap second" as
already occurs on occasion.  So definitely not a big deal, and not
even anything we could have noticed with prior to 20th century
technology, but maybe that was the source for some of these kinds of
rumors.


Joe
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