Can a man-made structure change the speed of our planet’s rotation on its axis? Well, yes! NASA scientists have discovered that China’s giant Three Gorges Dam, one of the largest engineering structures in the world, is so massive that it affects the Earth’s motion by barely extending the time of day.
Giant dam
The Three Gorges Dam, located on the Yangtze River near Sanduping, is a true engineering miracle. Completed in 2012, it is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world in terms of capacity. Its dimensions are impressive: 2.3 kilometers wide, 185 meters high, and the construction estimate has reached $20.4 billion. It is so large that it is visible from Earth orbit.
This structure holds a huge reservoir of water – about 40 km3. Such a mass is not just astonishing, but also has a physical impact on our planet.
How does a dam change the Earth’s rotation?
A study conducted by Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center found that the Three Gorges Dam creates a mass-displacement effect. This mass of water affects the Earth’s moment of inertia, a physical characteristic that determines how fast the planet rotates.
Because of this effect, each day on Earth is lengthened by 0.06 microseconds (0.00000006 seconds). It’s very little to feel the difference, but enough to capture the change with scientific instruments. The dam also makes the Earth slightly “flat” at the poles and “round” near the equator.
Can we get more time?
Unfortunately, an extra 0.06 microseconds won’t let us sleep longer or have time to do more things. By comparison, to add even one second to a day would require a mass equivalent to 16.7 million such dams. This is physically impossible, because such a change would seriously affect the planet’s gravity and climate.
Dr. Chao notes that over the entire lifetime of the Universe (13.8 billion years), this effect would only add about three days. Therefore, despite all the grandeur of the dam, its impact on the cosmic time scale remains minimal.
World reaction
The news of the dam that is “slowing down” the Earth has sparked a lively discussion on the internet. Users joked, “Should we collect all those microseconds for an extra weekend?” Or, “We’ve slowed down the Earth and still no GTA VI!”
Also, this fact was another argument against the “flat Earth theory”. Scientific evidence from NASA’s precise measurements once again confirms that our planet is a spinning ball, and even human structures can affect its motion.
We previously reported on how slowing down the Earth’s rotation contributed to the evolution of life.
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