I Hereby Declare This the Decade of the Quakes

by **Fivelives** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 3:37 am

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/ ... BB20120411

8.7 earthquake just hit Indonesia a little bit ago. Hopefully it won't be as bad as the 9.1 that hit in 2004 (seismologists are apparently saying there's less risk of a tsunami from this type of quake).

Fun factoid: every major earthquake kicks the Earth's axis over just a little tiny bit. For reference, when Japan tried to sink itself, our axis shifted 25cm. If this keeps up, maybe our poles really WILL reverse*. Then my toilet would flush itself counter-clockwise, and you aussies would get to be mesmerized by a clockwise-flushing toilet!

* Yeah, I know - pole reversal is natural and happens every couple hundred thousand years. Just to head off that inevitable argument!

by **Treck** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 3:54 am

Fivelives wrote:Fun factoid: every major earthquake kicks the Earth's axis over just a little tiny bit. For reference, when Japan tried to sink itself, our axis shifted 25cm. If this keeps up, maybe our poles really WILL reverse*. Then my toilet would flush itself counter-clockwise, and you aussies would get to be mesmerized by a clockwise-flushing toilet!

Not to go all Dwight Schrute on you, but if your toilet flush clockwise or counter clockwise is affected by the toilets construction and the current movement of the water within it.
Saying water drains in different directions is about as valid as saying you weigh less at daytime cuz the sun is gravitationally dragging you up, while at night its adding to the earths pull on you.
The effect is very small on water, but its very visible in hurricanes.

by **Fivelives** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:26 am

Weird, I thought it had something to do with the side of the equator you're on.

by **Invisusira** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 4:33 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_e ... nd_toilets

by **Rhiannon** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:54 am

Even if the Coriolis effect were responsible, it's a function of inertia and not magnetism, so poles flipping wouldn't have any bearing.

Edit: nevermind, re-read what you said and worked out you were joking about a literal flip of the earth's axis rather than just the magnetic poles. I slow.

by **Fivelives** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:30 am

Honestly the whole toilet flushing thing was kind of a joke. The tilting isn't, though, that's kind of a serious problem.

by **Treck** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:11 am

The sun eventually blowing up is also a serious problem.

Altho Id be interested in seeing a link to the factiod, not cuz i doubt it, but cuz of interest, and a few questions.

by **Fivelives** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 7:21 am

http://news.discovery.com/earth/japan-e ... 10314.html

http://www.adventure-journal.com/2010/0 ... thquake-2/

Etc...

by **Snake-Aes** » Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:44 am

Treck wrote:The sun eventually blowing up is also a serious problem.

Altho Id be interested in seeing a link to the factiod, not cuz i doubt it, but cuz of interest, and a few questions.

There's a good chance Mars will scrape on Earth before the sun swallows either. A small chance it'll be a frontal collision too.

That's something I wish I could observe more easily, two planets colliding.

by **razul** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 1:24 pm

will this work?

http://www.dump.com/planetcrashing/

Website · by **Aubade** » Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:14 pm

Maintankadin: Where we debate the rotation of toilets.

I Hereby Declare This the Decade of the Quakes

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