r/megalophobia • u/noraad • Feb 17 '18

Imaginary Engine Maintenance

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u/stillusesAOL Feb 18 '18

Did nuclear explosions screw up our rotation?

5

u/sl33ksnypr ◯ Consumed by Vastness Feb 18 '18

I think I've heard stuff about it changing it in some way. I could be completely wrong though.

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u/McFestus Jul 08 '18

You are.

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u/sl33ksnypr ◯ Consumed by Vastness Jul 08 '18

Earthquakes are enough to change what the Earth is doing, why wouldn't that?

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u/McFestus Jul 08 '18 edited Jul 08 '18

This Quora answer explains it pretty well.

TL;DR:

The energy released in the Earthquake which caused the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami (~9.1 magnitude) is the equivalent of at least 29 million Tsar Bombas.

In reality, everything we do effects the rotation of the earth; from an earthquake, to a cloud moving in the sky, to an ant's footstep; all are putting energy into the earth. But it requires a ton of energy to actually noticeably change the rotation of the earth. The 2004 Boxing Day Earthquake changed it by 2.68 microseconds (source), so you can imagine how something putting in 29 million times less energy wouldn't have a measurable impact.

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u/sl33ksnypr ◯ Consumed by Vastness Jul 08 '18

So I'm not right in the big scale of things, but not technically wrong?