NASA has confirmed that China’s massive Three Gorges Dam has slightly slowed Earth’s rotation, increasing the length of our days by 0.06 microseconds. Built on the Yangtze River and completed in 2012, the dam holds around 10 trillion gallons of water, enough to shift the planet’s mass.
According to Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, moving such a vast amount of water alters Earth’s rotation and axis, much like a figure skater extending their arms to slow a spin. The shift has also moved the planet’s axis by about 2 centimeters.
While the changes are tiny, modern technology can detect them. Despite this effect, the dam is crucial to China’s energy strategy, generating power equivalent to 15 nuclear reactors and reducing reliance on coal.
So while your day is now 0.06 microseconds longer, that time might only be enough to smell something—or for your dog to hear a sound’s direction.
Click below to read more…
